“As a conservation agency, we try to set an example, and we also use this project as an educational tool,” Lammers said.

“If we can also find ways to do more green energy, plus save money for taxpayers, that’s what we want to do.”

The solar panels were installed nearly a year ago and went online collecting the sun’s energy in April. The project is a cooperative effort with Red Lion Renewables, of Norwalk, which owns the small solar farm and in turn sells the energy produced to Hamilton County Conservation.

The nearly half-million-dollar project was completed with almost no investment from Hamilton County. The only cost incurred to the county was attorney fees to put the deal on paper.

“The investment is all through the private side, investors with Red Lion,” explained Terry Dvorak, chief executive officer of Red Lion Renewables.

“We built it. We own it, and we bill for the electricity. So, the county didn’t have to come up with any money and they are purchasing the electricity we produce for less than what they had been paying before, so that’s where the savings for Conservation are produced.”

With less than a year online, data on cost savings is not yet available. A similar project at Little Wall Lake, with a separate company, has been netting about $6,000 in annual savings, according to Lammers.

Those savings are produced with little to no risk for the county.

“You don’t take the risk,” Dvorak said. “I own it. I have to maintain it. I can’t sell power that I don’t produce, so it behooves me to keep it up and running.”

Dvorak became a believer in green energy after a trip to China shortly after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It was right after the Olympics, so they had actually cleaned up right before that,” Dvorak recalled. “But I could taste the air. That was my ‘ah ha’ moment. There are kids in Shanghai that will never see blue sky, never know that air isn’t supposed to have a taste.”

A native of Tama County, Dvorak returned home from China and set about developing a business plan to create green energy.

“It took a couple years to come up with a model,” he said. “We have investors that can take advantage of tax credits, and we have banks that work with us throughout the state.”

To date, Red Lion Renewables has some 150 systems throughout Iowa, working with more than 40 different cities, school districts, and county conservation departments.

At Briggs Woods Golf Course, the solar farm is designed to generate 170 kilowatts of power, generating 240,000 kilowatts every year. It provides electricity for the clubhouse, operations/maintenance building, cabins and the campground.

While the campground may not seem to be much of an energy consumer, one only has to look at the features on many of today’s campers to imagine the amount of electricity they need. As Lammers noted, many of the campers have not one, but two air conditioner units humming most of the time.

In addition, drivers of electric vehicles are discovering campgrounds as a place to come and charge up their vehicles. They are required to pay the regular camping fee for an electric hook up.

“That’s an increasing scenario that we are seeing play out at county parks, not just this one,” Dvorak said.

“We’ve had some Teslas pull in and try to plug in, and we say you need to pay for camping. That’s all we have set up at this time,” Lammers said.

The only facility not included at Briggs Woods Park is the new conference center.

But it’s not left off for lack of trying.

This project is one of the most unique that Dvorak has worked with, because of the sheer number of utilities involved. While he normally works with just one utility, this project needed approval from at least four different utilities, including Pleasant Hill, City of Webster City, Corn Belt Power Cooperative and South-East Power Pool.

“We left off the event center because one of the restrictions from some of the (higher-up) utilities for the number of kilowatts per customer that could be produced,” Dvorak said.

The conference center has a separate budget and operates independently from Conservation, but the utilities higher up on the food chain declared them to be as one, thus limiting the scope of the project.

Dvorak had good words for the cooperation from the local utilities here, and found the City of Webster City to be a very competitive provider in today’s marketplace.

“Webster City utilities are actually not high at all,” Dvorak said. “From my experience, Alliant Energy is the highest in the state, and they are almost twice of what you guys pay.”

The payback potential from similar projects can vary greatly depending on the utility, according to Dvorak. Investor-owned utilities have tougher requirements which can benefit solar projects.

“By state law, investor-owned utilities are required to do a full meter,” he explained. “Which means if I send you electricity, they have to credit you one-to-one for what you send back. The municipals, co-ops and RECs are not required to do that. They do have federal regulations to compensate you, but not to the same level. It makes a difference in the payback.”

Dvorak is very pleased with the project at Briggs Woods Park and looks forward to leading more green projects in the area.

“For most utilities, solar is very helpful,” Dvorak said. “Their biggest load is air conditioning, and solar matches pretty well with air conditioning because it’s in the summer, during the day, so that’s when their big load for residential occurs, and solar is working at that time. A lot of them just haven’t figured out how to calculate the savings.”

For Lammers, participating in a project that lowers costs for taxpayers with no risk to the county, and at the same time meeting its mission of being a conservation educator is a no brainer.

He is looking forward to planting the area between the solar panels to low-height pollinators, eliminating the need for mowing and boosting the conservation focus of the project.

“We want to set a good example and do projects that make sense for taxpayers and the environment,” he concluded.