Troy Van Beek

Guest columnist

As a veteran-owned business in small-town Iowa, we have been proud to recruit highly skilled workers for Iowa’s growing solar industry. Together, our team has helped businesses, farmers and homeowners harness the power of the sun to manage their energy costs and keep more of their hard-earned money in their pocket.

However, a new bill introduced at the State Capitol, House Study Bill 185, threatens our business and the people we employ. Under the guise of growing solar, the legislation would make the economics of solar unworkable for private solar projects and allow the utilities to monopolize the sun. In short, the bill would make Iowa consumers pay more for using less.

The utilities are attempting this power grab under the excuse of “fairness,” even though all solar customers already pay a fixed service charge to their utility each month, whether they pull any energy from them or not.

► Opinion: Solar Act ensures all pay their fair share for the electrical grid

MidAmerican Energy, the main driver of this legislation, made $600 million in net profits last year. The suggestion they need solar customers to pay even more than they already do to help maintain their infrastructure is not logical. The legislation is a one-sided story that does not take into account the avoided costs for utilities and value that distributed generation provides to the energy grid.

The truth is, privately owned solar generation benefits all utility customers. By investing their own money in solar, customers save the utility from investing in new generating, a cost that would otherwise be paid by ALL customers. Solar also adds low-cost energy to the grid when it's most expensive, in the hottest days and times of year, lowering the average cost for everyone.

For rural Iowa, distributed solar generation helps keep power steady and strong at the end of rural lines where customers may otherwise be hit with flickering lights and early equipment failure. In addition, well-placed solar can help utilities avoid upgrades to lines and transformers, reducing the overall cost of delivering electricity for everyone.

Solar has been a powerful tool for homeowners, businesses and communities in both driving economic growth through energy savings and the attention that renewable energy projects brings to the business or community. From our work in solar over the past decade, we’ve seen many cases of small rural businesses using solar as a strategic investment to accommodate growth by adding new hires or benefits like healthcare.

Residents and businesses in Iowa have no choice in which utility they do business with because utilities have complete monopolies over their service territories. Solar energy is one of the only options to control energy costs, and we must preserve their right to do so.

Iowa has more than 800 people employed in the solar industry, including over 30 at our company. It is important to note that 86 percent of these jobs are serving homes and businesses, while only 14 percent are in utility-scale solar. Utility investments in solar cannot and will not make up for the job losses this bill will cause. Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the American economy, and Iowa should be at the forefront of this growth.

Many states, including surrounding states like Minnesota, have done a “Value of Solar” analysis that found customers are more than covering infrastructure costs with the high-value energy they provide to the grid during expensive/peak times.

Iowa must conduct its own Value of Solar study before attempting to legislate a fix to a problem that does not exist. This is a necessity if our state wants to show leadership in America’s growth economy, and attract new business and residents to the state.

Troy Van Beek is a former Navy SEAL and founder & CEO of Ideal Energy, Fairfield. He also serves as a board member for the Iowa Solar Energy Trade Association.