Cooperative effort makes sun shine power at IMS

By Mary Zielinski
Iowa Mennonite School (IMS) expects to cut its energy costs by at least $465 annually, thanks to cooperative assistance from three sources. An $11,850 Iowa Power Fund Community Grant from the Iowa Office of Energy (OEI), aid from Farmers Electric Cooperative in nearby Frytown and expertise from Central Plains Solar brought the recent installation of solar array at the rural high school.
Monday, members of the Kalona Chamber of Commerce learned more about the IMS project and the state’s goal to reduce energy use in Iowa by 30 percent in the next 15 years.
The IMS solar power is very similar to the one installed more than a year ago at Washington Township Elementary School (financed in part by a Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF) grant). The IMS project is an example of the type of community grant the OEI is very interested in providing, explained Roya Stanley, OEI executive director, who was a guest speaker at the meeting.
The IMS project, though, also became an on-going learning experience for the IMS students, especially in physics, chemistry and economics classes. In fact, it was IMS physics teacher, Dick Yoder-Short, who was instrumental in obtaining the OEI grant for the school. Farmers Electric provided rebates ($23,000) and donations of time an labor. The labor from the array assembly to digging in the underground wire was a school project.
Yoder, who also spoke at the meeting, noted that Principal Tony Miller also worked in finding if it was feasible for IMS to do a solar panel.
While writing the grant, Yoder involved his students in the planning and the continued monitoring.
“This is not just a passing fancy,” he said of the project which has attracted other interest, including from individuals and businesses. In practical terms that means the solar panel is producing kilowatt hours for 12 cents with the resultant savings of nearly $500 per year.

“Right now, wind energy produces 20 percent of the energy used in the United States”

Solar is one of other alternative energy sources that were outlined by Stanley, including the growing use of wind power. The state’s goal for wind power is to increase that form of energy consumption by 30 percent by 2020. It goes along with the goal of increasing Iowans’ use of biofuels (produced in the state) by 50 percent by 2025.
To help with all that, the state established the Iowa Power Fund in 2007 and its community grants, financed by a $100 million financial assistance fund, to aid in technology, research and development for renewable and cleaner energy sources.
Stanley said that Iowa currently leads the nation in biofuel production and is second (to Wyoming) in wind energy. Even more, it is one of the top ten states backing (with substantial funds) energy efficient programs.
“Right now, wind energy produces 20 percent of the energy used in the United States,” said Stanley.
Deadline for the next round of grants from the OEI is August 13, and Stanley said she expects there will be a number of applications. She also said that the state needs to increase its Renewable Energy Standards. That translates into producing 10,000 megawatts compared to the current 3,600 which, she said, is possible.
For IMS, the nearly $500 may be small compared to its total energy bill of $75,000 per year which includes 562,581 kilowatt hours of electricity. The solar array produces 2,470 kilowatt hours, significant enough to tell designers that the potential for far more is there.
More information is available from the OEI at www.energy.iowa.gov