Iowa Radio Station Rocks with Solar Panels

In Fairfield, Iowa, deep in the Cornbelt, grassroots community radio station KRUU-LP, 100.1 FM, is rockin’ out from its 405 N. 2nd Street location thanks to the addition of solar panels.

Deep in phase two of the installation – all but the batteries wired – the two solar panels are projected to provide about 15 percent of the station’s needs, with future energy efficiency measures destined to up that to about 25 percent. More important, though, the addition of the solar panels means the station can continue to broadcast even in the event of a power failure. To Midwesterners, this spells the sort of 24/7 tornado tracking that can save lives.

It’s an installation that depended heavily on community power as well. For example, Martha and Alan Kreglow donated the system, including the essential inverter, and the Greater Jefferson County Grant Foundation put $2,500 in the kitty to cover costs.

Regional utility Alliant Energy, which serves Iowa, southern Minnesota and south-central Wisconsin, dug the holes for the poles on which the panels are mounted, and set the poles in cement provided by Southeast Iowa-based Ideal Ready Mix.

The radio station isn’t the only entity going green, either. Just last week, MSN.com designated Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy one of the 14 “Greenest Mayors” in the United States and praised Fairfield's city council for unanimously adopting a Green Strategic Plan. Though calling Fairfield a "liberal southeastern Iowa outpost” might have ruffled a few feathers; this is, after all, the heart of the Midwest, where liberal is a value-added tag but nobody claims bragging rights.

Iowa so far hasn’t paid much attention to solar energy. Wind seems to be the big gig on this endless carpet of corn. But solar is catching on, albeit slowly, thanks to efforts like the Iowa State University’s Solar Decathlon Team, which entered the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Competition in January 2008 and has since turned out a model net-zero energy house called the Interlock House, running on rooftop solar panels, solar hot water and energy-efficient appliances and lighting.