Iowa needs more solar energy to combat climate change, researchers say

Solar energy is a clean, cheap way to create electricity — and, in the face of climate change, Iowa needs more of it, agreed more than 200 science faculty members in the 2023 Iowa Climate Statement.

Climate change is caused predominantly by humans releasing greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, through industries like energy generation, transportation and agriculture. The gases absorb heat in the atmosphere, warming Earth and changing its climate. Locations may see more extreme weather or sea level rise.

Iowa has experienced 64 billion-dollar climate disasters in the last 40 years — 50 of which occurred in the past two decades. The state has seen a fair share of climate extremes this year alone.

It entered its third consecutive year of drought. By spring, the Mississippi River had flooded several communities along Iowa’s eastern border. By summer, crops and communities were shriveling under dry conditions and extreme heat. Wildfire smoke blanketed the state several times this year, degrading air quality and painting skies gray. Major heat records were set across the state from July to October.

Taking advantage of solar energy is one way to help mitigate the impacts, according to 221 Iowa science faculty at 36 colleges and universities in the 2023 Iowa Climate Statement released Tuesday. The technology produces energy without releasing greenhouse gases, unlike other energy generation sources like coal and natural gas.

“This year felt like climate change has qualitatively altered our summers in a dangerous way,” said Dave Courard-Hauri, a professor of environmental science and sustainability at Drake University, at a Tuesday news conference. “The best way to reduce future damages and climate change is to reduce emissions and find ways to mitigate the extent of the change as much as possible.”

This marks Iowa’s 13th annual climate statement. Last year’s focused on trees and how they help reduce heat, flooding and erosion.

Encouraged by policies and costs

While solar energy is growing more popular, it’s still in its early days in Iowa. The state ranks 33rd in the country with its 686 megawatts of solar installed through September, according to the national Solar Energy Industries Association. Iowa gets only 1 percent of its electricity from solar energy.

But it is gaining momentum, especially with incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act. The act, signed into law in August 2022, invests nearly $370 billion in clean energy over the next decade — including several solar energy incentives to make it more affordable.

Among its offerings, the legislation sets tax credits for residential and commercial solar projects starting at 30 percent for the next decade. Additional credits are offered for domestic material sourcing, for competitive worker wages and for communities historically dependent on fossil fuels.

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The average cost of solar energy production in 2020 was one-tenth of what it was in 2000 — making the cost of new solar energy often below the cost of energy from existing fossil-fuel plants, the climate statement said.

“The cost of solar is just a question of technology, right? The energy is all around us. The question is, just how do we transform that into usable energy?” Courard-Hauri said. “As technology continues to improve, solar will only get cheaper going forward.”

Other energy sources

Solar energy may be clean and cheap. But it can’t power the energy grid alone.

Wind and solar generation are projected to span 60 percent of the regional energy capacity by 2041. That could make it more complicated to plan and operate the power grid, since both energy forms are dependent on regional weather conditions, according to a December report by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator.

Renewable energy is more effective and reliable when paired with complementary green energy sources, the 2023 Iowa Climate Statement said — like pairing solar energy with wind energy. Iowa wind speeds tend to be high in the winter and spring when solar energy is less available, and lowest in the late summer when solar radiance is plentiful.

“Iowa has an opportunity to enhance its production of carbon-free energy by leveraging its experience as a leading wind energy state to build out a complementary capacity of solar energy,” said Gene Takle, an emeritus professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. “A strategic and balanced combination of utility-scale wind and solar energy will enhance Iowa’s year-round capacity to produce renewable energy while reducing its dependence on outside sources.”

In the news conference, experts also said land uses for solar is more efficient than other uses in Iowa, including for ethanol. A 1-acre solar farm produces as much energy as 100 acres of corn-based ethanol.

Increases in land use by solar shouldn’t send major ripples to the ethanol industry, though, the group said. Solar needs only a small fraction of Iowa land to function, and it doesn’t directly compete with ethanol. Rather, shifts in the transportation sector will be larger threats to the ethanol industry.

“What we anticipate is the movement of the transportation sector to E-vehicles is going to increase the demand for renewable energy (and) electricity,” said Peter Thorne, a professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa. “The major driver (away from ethanol) is not going to be solar. It's going to be E-vehicles.”

Solar panels can be repurposed for other activities to make their use even more efficient. For example, certain crops, livestock and pollinator plants can survive under the panels in an emerging practice called agrivoltaics. Solar also can be sited on already used land, such as rooftops and parking lots, to provide shade and energy.

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Pushback

Renewable energy projects have been met with pushback from some Iowa communities. Some of the concerns are based on misinformation, but some opponents have questions about how utility-scale solar projects will affect their rural lands.

In the 2023 Iowa Climate Statement, experts encouraged stakeholder involvement in decisions about solar. They referenced how Linn County supervisors organized renewable energy review committees to draft a new solar ordinance after the board approved 200 megawatts of solar at the former Duane Arnold nuclear facility near Palo and 100 megawatts from solar from a site west of Coggon.

“It's really important to see how it works,” added Ulrike Passe, an architecture professor at ISU. “Go and actually (see) that (solar) works, and I think that can overcome objections.”

Brittney J. Miller is the Energy & Environment Reporter for The Gazette and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com