Geothermal Heat Pump

$65,000 Grant + $65,000 Loan Guarantee

2007

When Steve and Diane Hammer looked into expanding their meat locker business to a full service grocery store, the town of Elkton had been without a grocery for several years.

They had already developed acumen for the meat business, satisfying both customers and judges with “Big Daddy’s Meats.”

Now, with the help of a $65,000 REAP grant, the Hammers were able to bring a grocery store back to their small town in an environmentally-sustainable and cost-effective manner. “We were looking for a way to cut costs,” said Steve.

What they found was a clean, renewable geothermal heat pump system that would save them money. “Our facility is now heated and cooled entirely by geothermal energy,” he continued. Geothermal presents a great opportunity for rural small businesses across the region to tap into renewable energy, and REAP is a part of realizing that potential.

“Could wehave done this project without REAP? Probably not,” said Steve. The Hammers also received small loans and grants from the South Dakota Office of Economic Development.

“We’ve seen considerable energy and cost savings,” he noted. “With the way the president would like to ‘go green’ I think that this program should play a larger role; we should get more of these projects funded.”

Solar Thermal

$26,390 Grant

2008

Sam Hoffman started brewing beer in 1998, taking advantage of locally grown barley, hops and the clean mountain waters that flow through the small town of Red Lodge just north of Yellowstone National Park. Today, Red Lodge Ales may now be one of the “greenest” breweries in the country.

When Sam needed to expand his operation, he wanted to incorporate more green energy into his new facility and adopted several innovative approaches in solar energy with the help of a $26,390 REAP grant.

The new Red Lodge Ale facility sports an array of solar hot water panels that will provide space heat through floor heating in the winter, while providing hot water in the summer. Hoffman also constructed a biodiesel production unit, using waste grease collected from his customers. Delivery trucks now drop off beer and pick up grease, which is then used to fuel the Red Lodge delivery fleet.

Other innovations adopted by Hoffman include a “Freeaire” refrigerator system for his large coolers that exchanges chilly Montana air from outside during the winter months, drastically cutting his electric load and extending equipment life.

He’s also added wood stoves for sustainable heat and ambience in public areas.

Unfortunately, the Red Lodge Ales are only available in Montana, Wyoming and the greater Yellowstone region. But maybe, with Hoffman’s ingenuity and drive, we’ll be able to enjoy this “green” beer around the country very soon.

Geothermal Heat Pump
$7,920
2007

Shirley Hovda knows the financial strain that can come from heating businesses through the long winters of the upper Midwest.

Her Quality Decorating company, which specializes in custom wood finishing and coatings, is located in Roseau, a northern Minnesota town famous for its local high school hockey team. In February 2007, Hovda faced a “body check” of her own, courtesy of a $1,200 natural gas bill.

The high heating costs convinced her that a change was needed. After researching a number of options, Hovda settled on a geothermal system to heat her newly constructed 6,000 square foot facility. With help from a $7,920 grant through REAP, she was able to purchase and install the system in January of 2008.

Geothermal heat pumps are a good fit for many businesses because they work efficiently in both the winter and the summer, heating or cooling, and replacing two separate systems. Hovda was attracted to geothermal for its efficiency and for the fact that it can operate year-round.

The system at Quality Decorating consists of a well that is dug into the ground which pumps groundwater through pipes in the building. The heat pump technology provides heating and cooling, as needed, through both in-floor and forced air mechanisms

Hovda has been very pleased with the unit’s reliability. But the true satisfaction, she says, will come from seeing energy bills that are 40% lower than in the past.

Small-Scale Wind

$500,000 Grant

2007

Kent Madison has always tried to stay on the cutting-edge of farm technology.

His third-generation family farm in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon grows wheat, corn, alfalfa, potatoes, and canola, and he makes biodiesel fuel from canola.

Given his previous success with innovative projects, Madison recently decided to add wind power to its harvest with the help of a REAP grant.

He joined forces with a wind developer and one of his neighbors to build the project more efficiently. They shared the costs of construction equipment, negotiated a better contract with John Deere Renewable Energy, and in the end expanded their installed capacity to 64 MW of clean wind power.

Madison’s portion of the project eventually included three Vestas V82 1.65 MW turbines. The project was organized with a “flip” financing structure, where Madison started with a 1% of ownership and 51% of operational control. After their corporate partner realizes a return on investment, in 10-12 years, local ownership and revenues flip to 95% for the remainder of the project life.

Madison points out that REAP “allows us to own a bigger share of the turbines more quickly.” The project also demonstrates the close connection between locally owned farm energy and rural economic development.

Small-Scale Wind

$15,375 Grant

2009

Glen White found that his 35-acre farm in northern Indiana could be a prime location for renewable energy growth. REAP provided the seed that allowed his family’s business to grow during a recession.

Mr. White is now in the solar and wind power business in addition to livestock and construction. Glen first tried solar water heating on his farmstead, using evacuated tube collectors, with success. He decided solar was ready for the market and has been selling and installing solar systems for years for several years.

By the way his flag snapped in the breeze Glen knew he also had a wind energy resource he could tap. He made a winter project out of researching wind power resources around the world. Ultimately, Glen decided to purchase a Bergey 10 kw wind turbine. A local metal fabricator built the tower and is now ready to make more.

The wind turbine has performed as well as the solar, producing enough power to meet the electricity needs of his Indiana farmstead. And the construction and energy businesses have created more employment for him and his workers to fill out the year.

Investing in a new venture in early 2009 was risky given the dire economic conditions. REAP incentives made his wind turbine feasible. Glen has since plowed his clean energy savings back into growing a clean energy enterprise.

“We can see steady growth in this field but we need to educate people on the possibilities,” said Glen.

Utility-Scale Wind

$2,326,000 Grant +

$250,000 Loan Guarantee

2007

With the help of REAP, a group of rural Iowa entrepreneurs joined together to develop a locally-owned wind farm that produces clean power, energy independence and economic development.

Crosswind Energy Project was one of Iowa’s first locally owned wind farms. The project consists of 10 farmer-owners pooling their investments for a 10-turbine wind farm totaling 21 MW of clean generation capacity.

REAP was key to project financing because local farmer-owners cannot directly use the federal production tax credit. In forming a partnership with a Edison Mission Energy (EME), the entrepreneurs used REAP as a source of equity investment, while EME uses the tax credit.

During the 10 year life of the tax credit, EME owns most of the project. Soon thereafter, the local investors will assume ownership. Corn Belt Power in Humboldt, Iowa purchases all of the power from the local company, just as they would from an outside developer. The addition of Crosswind Energy to its power supply mix brought the renewable content of their members’ electricity to nearly 15%.

Wind farms bring new investment and jobs to rural economies but local ownership, such as the Crosswind Energy Project, retains even more wealth in the community. What’s more, the community roots bring a shared sense of purpose with the local community, building wind farm support.

Community ownership also grows energy independence. Crosswind Energy generates enough power to meet the annual electricity needs of Palo Alto County.

Crosswind Energy demonstrates how REAP can yield multiple benefits for clean energy, rural economic development and energy independence.

Small-Scale Wind

$33,144 Grant

2007

Massachusetts does not leap to mind as a top wind energy producing state, but Sylvan Nursery and many of its neighbors in Westport are finding small wind a prudent investment.

In 2007, Sylvan received a $33,144 grant through REAP to install two 120-foot 10 kW wind turbines at its facility. The grant covered 25% of the project’s cost, and with additional funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, payback on the investment will be achieved quickly.

“The small nature of the turbines makes them less intrusive,” says Jim McBratney, President and General Manager of Sylvan. “But they still generate up to about 70% of the electricity used by the buildings they supply.”

Sylvan Nursery is a great example of how renewable energy technology can realize cost savings, even in an unconventional place. “It was first a cost savings investment for us,” said McBratney. “Secondarily it was an environmental decision, but fundamentally we just hated being beat with a stick because of high energy costs.”

There are other benefits as well, he noted. “The community appreciation is really there. The novelty of the project certainly hasn’t worn off.”

The Sylvan project sparked others when word spread quickly. Within a ten-mile radius of Sylvan, eight similar turbines have been erected.

While McBratney calculates Sylvan’s payback for the project at eight years, he says that’s a conservative estimate. “To legislators thinking about funding this type of project, I say ‘Go for it.’ This is the right thing to do. It spurs on the industry and allows new, better technology to reach the market.”

Solar Electric

$23,125 Grant

2006

On a frigid January day in 2007 with wind chills dipping well below zero, Stephen Welk installed a solar photovoltaic system on his fish farm in Holland, New York.

Welk, who has been involved with aquaculture for more than 20 years, raises nine different species of fish, including perch, trout, and bass.

These fish are then sold as sport fish for stocking rivers and lakes in the area. After taking a course in solar technology, he became interested in a new catch: installing a functioning solar electric system on his own farm.

With a grant of $23,125 from REAP, he was able to install a 10 kW system on his property. In evaluating the feasibility of his project, Welk stressed the importance of securing funding from multiple sources. Aside from the REAP grant, he received support from a New York state energy program and tax credits at both the state and federal levels.

“Without any one of those, I would not have done it,” Welk noted of his project, the total cost of which was about $93,000.

Thus far, he has been very happy with the performance of his system, which has supplied about one third of the farm’s energy. Welk says he is confident in the technology and he knows that it works, even if it would have been pricey in the absence of support from programs like REAP.

His system has been very dependable, producing 11,000 kWh over a twelve-month period. On its best day of production, Welk’s system produced 67 kWh.

Now, Welk loves “just sitting back and watching the meter spin” as he avidly tracks the system’s daily clean energy production.

Solar Electric
$4,936 and $8,310 Grants
2004 and 2006

Pinehold Gardens, a community-supported farm in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has become a solar pioneer in southeastern Wisconsin.

With the help of grants from REAP, Sandy Raduenz and David Kozlowski, the farm’s owners, recently added their second photovoltaic solar system to their 21-acre fruit and vegetable farm.

When they were considering their first project, a 2.5 kilowatt dual-axis tracker installed in May of 2005, Raduenz joked that they would “probably” be alive to see their expected 19-year payback.

However, through multiple funding sources, including a $4,940 grant from the REAP program, an overachieving system, and rising energy costs, they are recovering their investment faster than expected.

The solar tracker, which was supposed to generate 4,100 kwh/year has bested expectations, averaging 4,400 kwh/year over its fi rst three years of operation.

This performance bolstered the pair’s confidence in solar technology as an answer to electricity costs. They decided to add a second system, which would allow them to meet 100% of the farm’s electrical needs including irrigation, refrigeration, and heating their chicken house.

The newer system, added in October 2008, is 2.7 kilowatts and is expected to produce 3,438 kWh per year. Again, they were able to make the investment with the help of an $8,310 REAP grant.

Kozlowski said the benefits go beyond reducing the farm’s operating costs and increasing profitability. “The system, he said, “functions as a sort of marketing tool for us too.”

Customers are already drawn to Pinehold Gardens because of the sustainable way in which they grow food, but with the solar panels on-site, “people see it as a double bonus.”

Raduenz said that her customers like the panels and that the farm has gotten more attention because of them. “We’ve been on the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s solar tour for three or four years . . . it’s a really great thing to do.”

Solar Electric
$29,400 Grant
2007

Dove & Boar Farm is a start-up farm in Hampton, Connecticut, raising sheep and chickens, and growing fruits and vegetables.

Farm owner Tim Huchthausen, already a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, has always been environmentally conscious and wanted to reduce his farm’s environmental footprint while saving money.

By taking advantage of a $29,400 REAP grant and additional funding from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, Dove & Boar was able to install a 15.6 kW solar array on the rooftop of the main barn.

The 78 panel array is one of the first to be installed on a working farm in Connecticut and is expected to supply about 85 percent of the farm’s energy needs, making the farm almost completely self-reliant for electrical power. The installation is financed over 10 years.

The solar power array is part of the farm’s five-year plan that includes a heated greenhouse, certified kitchen, and walk-in cooler, which will allow them to grow and sell fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, and prepared specialty foods year round in a sustainable manner.

“Applying for the grant was fairly flawless and easy,” Huchthausen said, “because Solarwrights [now Atlantis Renewables], the supplier of the array, was most helpful in every aspect of the grant process.”