The Delaware Electric Cooperative announced last week that it will install its first major solar asset on 20 acres near Georgetown.

The 20-acre project will provide about 4 megawatts of solar power and get the cooperative closer to its state-mandated goal of getting 0.6 percent of its energy from renewable power sources.

“In the beginning of 2013, we come under a new [renewable energy portfolio standard],” said Mark Nielson, vice president of staff services for the cooperative.

The solar farm that the cooperative is building will cover about 20 acres on 40 acres that the company has purchased with plans to develop more solar there in the future. The state’s portfolio standard will require the cooperative to get 3.5 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025.

“We bought twice as much land as we need for this particular project,” Nielson said.

The land is well situated near a distribution substation and not close to other renewable power sources.

Nielson said it was key to find a spot where the interconnection costs would be minimized. The closer the new solar farm is to a distribution substation, the more affordable the connection became, he said.

The spot is also well-suited for expansion, he said.

“It’s pretty much plug and play,” he said.

The site is expected to eventually host 8 megawatts of solar.

Until now, the company has not installed any of its own solar except for a 5.5-kilowatt system on its roof.

“That has really been more of an educational and demonstration tool,” Nielson said. “It didn’t really contribute to our operations.”

While the company is just now installing solar, it has been offering grants and rebates to customers who wanted to install solar on their own rooftops.

Nielson said about 300 of the company’s 84,000 customers have installed solar since the program began in 2006. And the cooperative’s grid is soaking up about 3.5 megawatts of renewable power from distributed solar photovoltaic rooftop installations.