Alliant partnering with Indian Creek Nature Center to power facility with solar

When the Indian Creek Nature Center's Amazing Space opens in the summer of 2016, solar energy will provide more than 100 percent of the facility's energy needs.

Alliant Energy's Iowa utility has committed to install a cutting-edge solar power system at the $6.9 million learning center.

The system, which still is in the design stages, will be between 70 and 100 kilowatts, according to Doug Kopp, president of Alliant Energy's Iowa utility.

'We are excited to take this next step in a long history of partnership with Indian Creek Nature Center,' said Kopp, who noted that the utility worked with the facility in 2003 to develop a 3.6 kilowatt solar system.'

An online 'portal' will enable the public to get real-time information about the solar energy system. Kopp said the facility will provide a test site for Alliant Energy to learn more about how solar energy affects its electrical grid as well as which solar panels provide the best results.

Kopp said Alliant Energy will treat the Indian Creek solar facility as a generating unit, much the same as a wind energy turbine farm. It will be the company's first utility-owned solar generation site, with construction expected to finish in 2016.

Kopp was unable to put a value on Alliant's Energy's investment, noting that the design of the project is ongoing and the system may include storage batteries to power the facility when the sun is not shining.

John Myers, executive director of Indian Creek Nature Center, said $6.25 million has been raised toward the total cost of the Amazing Space project. Myers expects the non-profit organization to break ground in May.

Myers hailed Alliant Energy's solar energy commitment, part of a 15-year educational partnership, as a crucial step toward construction of what has been called a living building.

'By producing more than the energy needed for the building on site, we will be one of the very few buildings in America to be Net Zero,' Myers said.