Earlier this year Rick Juchems built on his conservation philosophy by installing a solar panel array at his farm near Plainfield.
Farming Renewably Considering electricity as an input BY JOSEPH L. MURPHY
F
armers know commodities. Planting soybeans, corn and other crops are the mechanisms for sustaining their operations. More and more, farmers are adding renewable energy to the list of commodities they farm. Rick Juchems, Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) District 3 Director from Plainfield, recently incorporated renewable energy into his farm by installing solar panels. The installation was the culmination of 10 years of research that is now allowing him to farm the sun while adding money back into his pocket. “I always want to conserve,” Juchems says. “Conserve our soil, our water and other natural resources. I
20 | MARCH 2020 | IASOYBEANS.COM
thought solar panels would be a good way to add to that philosophy.” Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are made of many individual solar cells. The cells are made of silicon and act like semiconductors found in computers. They are constructed with a positive layer and a negative layer, which together create an electric field, just like a battery. Juchems installed three 120-feet long solar arrays in June. There are 540 individual solar panels in the array. They produce 63 kilowatts of direct current (DC). That energy is 42 kilowatts of alternating current (AC). The electricity produced powers his farm and the excess energy is to MidAmerican Energy, which is
his power supplier. Juchems then recieves a credit on his power bill. “Most of the time we are using all of the energy produced, especially in the winter when we are running the fans and aeration for the hogs,” Juchems says. “During the summer, pit fans are running and the circulation fans are running. It takes a lot of electricity to power the farm.” Juchems used state and federal tax incentives to defray the cost of the solar array. He also applied for a federal energy grant. “We had a $10.70 monthly energy bill when we turned it on in August,” he says. “Before the solar panels our electric bill averaged $600 to $700 monthly.”
