More Iowa farmers turning to solar for energy needs

DECORAH - After harnessing solar energy for millennia to fuel photosynthesis, farmers increasingly are tapping sun rays to power their farmsteads.

'Solar is sexy. Everyone is doing it, and it is especially well-suited for farmers,” said Andy Johnson, director of the Winneshiek Energy District, the state's first and so far only local entity promoting both energy efficiency and renewable sources.

A steep reduction in the cost of solar panels and generous tax incentives, coupled with farmers' intensive use of energy, make this an ideal time for farmers to consider solar, Johnson said.

More than 100 people, many of them farmers, gathered April 10 for a workshop on farm solar applications at the Iowa Dairy Center on the campus of Northeast Iowa Community College near Calmar.

Among several speakers and panelists, Winneshiek County cattleman Carlton Kjos explained why he installed a 28-kilowatt capacity solar array last year at one of his farms and why he intends to add a second array this year at another farm.

'Number one, I did it to save money, but I would rather use the sun to meet my energy needs than coal or natural gas. It's cleaner, greener, and renewable,” he said.

Organic dairy farmer Rick Langland, who milks 60 cows fed exclusively with organic crops raised on his 400-acre eastern Winneshiek County farm, installed his solar array three years ago on the roof of a cattle shed designed specifically to accommodate solar.

While the north-facing roof is fairly flat, the roof facing south toward the sun is pitched at a 33-degree angle to efficiently gather the sun's rays. The beams and rafters beneath the roof have been beefed up to support the additional weight of the solar panels.

As with Kjos, Langland said the solar installation would have been a non-starter without the financial incentives.

The solar array - which he estimates will pay for itself in about eight years - provides about half the electricity he uses on his farm, Langland said.

'The green part is important to me. I switched to organic dairy production in 1996 because I was worried about the impact of farm chemicals on my family's health and the environment,” he said.

Excess production

Winneshiek County, long a hotbed of homegrown energy, has more residential solar than any other county in Iowa, according to Johnson.

Washington County, where 'almost every hog and turkey barn has solar on the roof,” leads the state in commercial solar installations, with Winneshiek ranking in the top five, he said.

As a means of energy production, 'solar is better than wind for homes and farms, while wind turbines are more efficient on a utility scale,” he said.

Utility-scale turbines typically reach 400 feet into the air, where the wind is stronger and more predictable, while farm-scale units are built closer to the ground, Johnson said.

Wind turbines, unlike solar, have a lot of moving parts, which increases wear and maintenance expenses, he said.

The 25-year warranties that typically accompany solar photovoltaic panels are much better than warranties available for wind turbines, according to Johnson.

While photovoltaic units generate electricity, solar thermal units typically are used as an economical means to heat water.

Workshop panelist Roger Egeland, who milks 400 cows south of Ossian, said his solar panels heat the 1,000 gallons of water needed each day to clean his cows and equipment.

Johnson said most solar panels are connected to the utility grid with excess production credited on a one-to-one basis to the producer.

Federal and state income tax credits make solar panels more affordable, according to Kelly Brickley, a certified public accountant with Hacker Nelson and Co. of Decorah.

The U.S. government offers a 30 percent income tax credit through Dec. 31, 2016, said Brickley, who spoke at the solar workshop.

The tax credit can be carried forward seven years if the applicant does not have sufficient income to offset the credit, he said.

Iowa provides a residential solar tax credit equal to 60 percent of the federal credit, with a cap of $4,500, Brickley said.

An Iowan who installs a residential solar system that costs $25,000, for example, would be entitled to a $7,500 federal income tax credit and a $4,500 state income tax credit, he said.

Cost has fallen

Farmers and other commercial entities that install solar panels also can take advantage of accelerated depreciation, which would allow them to expense 85 percent of their investment within five years.

For example, Brickley said, an Iowa business with a solar array that costs $75,000 would realize a federal tax credit of $22,500, a state tax credit of $13,500 and a five-year depreciation deduction of $63,750. If the business paid income tax at a 20 percent rate, that deduction would translate into an additional savings of $12,750.

Johnson said the cost of solar has fallen from more than $8 per watt capacity three years ago to about $3 now. Moreover, he said, the cost of utility-produced electricity has been increasing at a rate of about 5 percent a year.

Another workshop panelist, Lyle Luzum, a self-described data geek, said he paid $41,000 for his 10.78-kilowatt system, which was installed in July 2013. With the federal and state tax credits, his net cost was $25,729, he said.

Luzum said the system provides about 56 percent of his electricity needs and will pay for itself 'in a little over 12 years.”

Asked why he went solar, Luzum replied, 'to address the hidden costs to the environment and public health” of energy produced by burning fossil fuels.

Andy Johnson's dad, Decorah farmer and environmentalist Paul Johnson, the former head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, said he was heartened to see scores of farmers attending the workshop.

'These are not the food co-op people,” Johnson said, referring to the nucleus of Winneshiek County's strong and long-standing environmental ethos.

'These are everyday Winneshiek County residents who value and want to protect the beauty of our landscape and our good water and air.”