Iowa Rebates and Incentives Summary
“I scream, you scream. We all scream for pork loin!” Sure, there were other pork industry signs at Iowa’s the Des Moines International Airport, including of course “Pork: The other white meat.” But the first one stuck with us over here at CEA. And it should be an indicator of just what type of state Iowa is, a state with deep roots in the farming and agricultural industries. However, the state also has ample renewable resources. It’s also at heart of the grain and bible belts, but could also be considered part of the wind and solar belts. As such, the state offers residents and businesses, including farms, numerous incentives to adopt or increase the use of renewables like solar, wind, biomass or biogas power. These incentives include tax breaks, low- and no-interest rate loans, rebate programs, performance-based incentives and more.
To help further the state’s efforts in adopting renewables, the state established the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. The office is charged with producing the state’s annual Energy Independence plan and manages the Iowa Power Fund, which helps fund clean energy development in the state. As of 2007, the office also was charged with spending $24 million annually to support development of renewable energy in the state.
The state is a national leader in renewable energy consumption, particularly wind energy consumption. A full 14 percent of all the energy used in the state is produced by wind turbines, as of 2010.
While the state’s wind resources provide the gale force behind Iowa’s move to clean energy, its solar resources are nothing to blow off. Despite being among the more northerly of the midwest states, it gets an average of about 4.5 kilowatt hours (kWh) per square meter of daily sunlight. The southwestern half of the state gets close to 5 kWh per square meter per day, and the northeastern half gets closer to 4 kWh per square meter per day. Even in the northeastern region, PV makes sense.
Iowa doesn’t have a renewable portfolio standard per se—it passed its alternative energy law in 1983, long before the idea of renewable energy standards were implemented by other states. The original statute required its two investor-owned utilities to purchase renewable energy. The statute has been updated since then and, as of 2010, the utilities must purchase a total of 105 megawatts of renewable electricity annually. However, in this largely agrarian state, the 105 MW is equal to roughly half the demand of the two utilities.
Currently, Iowa offers an alternative energy loan program, net-metering programs through its various utilities, a performance-based incentive for customers feeding electricity back into the grid, and a sales tax exemption for residents who purchase solar equipment.
