Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

Iowa city moving towards goal of energy independence

Midwest Energy News: The city of Bloomfield, Iowa is at least 10 percent of the way toward its pledge to reach energy independence by 2030 with the recent completion of a 1.86-megawatt solar array.

The city turned on the solar array Dec. 29, just ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline for collecting a state production tax credit, which might reduce the city’s costs by as much as 8 percent.

“We’re still tweaking it,” said Chris Ball, the city’s energy efficiency director.

Ball estimated that the array, which tracks the sun throughout the day to maximize total energy production, will provide about 10 percent of the power used by the city’s 2,600 residents. The city chose a more costly tracking system because it is expected to produce 18 percent more energy than a stationary system and because it will produce during the utility’s peak times — late afternoon in the summer and morning in the winter.

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