Companies turn to solar as they expand their clean energy portfolios

By Michael Crumb

Photos By Joe Crimmings

If you’ve driven by Kemin Industries’ headquarters on Scott Avenue in Des Moines, you may have noticed a large solar array on its roof. You’ll soon notice the installation of what is called an active tracking solar array system in the employee parking lot.

It’s not just about capturing solar energy to power to help power its buildings. It’s part of Kemin’s larger sustainability vision.

But they’re not alone. 

Other companies in the Des Moines area are also expanding their clean energy portfolios. One of them is Wells Fargo, which is undertaking its own solar array project at its campus in West Des Moines and its headquarters on Westown Parkway with construction scheduled to begin this spring.

The companies are using space on their own land not only to become more sustainable, but also as a point of pride for employees and as a tool to attract and retain top talent.

At Kemin, the solar array, expected to be the largest single corporate solar array in Central Iowa, is part of the company’s vision for its future.

“One of the things we wanted to do after this vision came about was what are some big commitments that we can start making,” said Heather Christensen, sustainability coordinator at Kemin. “So we started considering solar on our corporate headquarters.”

After reviewing proposals from several companies, Kemin decided on one that would power its headquarters’ office building with 100% solar.

“It’s really kind of the gateway statement for Kemin as a global operation that this is where we’re going to start our commitment,” Christensen said.

The first phase is the roof-mounted system that was installed last year. The second phase is the active-tracking system that will be installed in the northwest corner of the employee parking lot, which faces Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Southeast 18th Street as you approach downtown Des Moines from the east.

That system’s panels will face east in the morning and rotate and follow the sun as it moves across the sky until it sets in the west.

“We’re doing a lot of work because at our corporate headquarters, this is going to be a beautiful system for us to showcase to our other locations, to our partners in business, our other stakeholders and for the city, and to represent our commitment in the state of Iowa,” Christensen said.

The rooftop project was completed last summer, but was damaged in the Aug. 10, derecho. Those repairs, which will include fortifying the support system the panels sit on to enable them to better withstand similar storms in the future, should be completed this spring, she said.

With the increased frequencies and increased duration of severe storms caused by climate change, Christensen said it’s important for companies to consider that as they move forward in their own clean energy plans.

“That’s another key piece for businesses, that in addition to considering the transition to clean and renewable energy, there’s also the need to consider that we’re going to be dealing with an increase in these weather events and how do we put resiliency into those systems to weather those storms,” she said.

The panels and racking systems are built to withstand 100 mph wind, she said.

Work on the active-tracking system is expected to be complete sometime in June, Christensen said.

The solar arrays are just the latest in Kemin’s clean-energy vision.

Christensen said that vision is always growing and evolving, but efforts so far have included waste reduction campaigns to eliminate single-use plastics, such as straws and bottles. There is also a 22-acre prairie restoration on the campus’s east side to increase biodiversity and pollinator habitat.

The company has also reduced emissions for raw materials that are shipped to Kemin by using rail instead of a multitude of trucks to deliver materials from across the country.

“It was interesting to see when you break it down to emissions how much that actually saved – a big change in transportation, and investment in what it takes to get there, was an incredible emissions reduction,” Christensen said.

She said not only are the measures being taken by Kemin based on internal expectations of the company’s owners and its employees, but also those of customers within the company’s supply chain.

Clean energy projects are also a tool in drawing top talent to the region, Christensen said.

“It’s absolutely a piece of it,” she said. 

Christensen said questions about a company’s sustainability programs are becoming more and more common among prospective employees.

“They are showing higher concern and awareness of these issues leading to climate change and sustainability and they want to work for companies that are addressing those, not ignoring those, and making investments in those things,” she said.

Wells Fargo just beginning solar initiative

At Wells Fargo, work is underway on a ground-mounted system at its West Des Moines campus, which will produce 2,800 megawatts of energy a year. The other project is at its headquarters on Westown Parkway, a rooftop installation that will produce 500 megawatt-hours of energy a year.

According to Matt Jernigan, a sustainability strategy consultant with the company, the projects are part of Wells Fargo’s operational sustainability goals, which were revised in 2016 to add a specific goal of 100% renewable energy for its electrical consumption.

So far, the company is about 25% of its way to that goal, he said.

“The solar initiative is one piece of this broader phase two of our goal with on-site solar being one of the most impactful things we can do because it directly reduces our dependence on brown power from the grid in the markets where we operate,” Jernigan said.

According to Jernigan, once complete, the solar arrays will offset about 10% of the company’s energy needs for those two campuses.

Construction is expected to begin this spring, with completion by the end of the year, he said.

Iowa is just one of seven states where Wells Fargo is looking at on-site solar.

“My suspicion is we’ll do more, but we’re really just hitting the ground running,” Jernigan said. “We have about 100 or so installations that we’re installing and focused on getting these completed, but I do believe this could be the beginning of more. We certainly hope to do more.”

Another component of the Wells Fargo projects is a 6-acre pollinator garden at the West Des Moines campus that will further the company’s sustainability efforts. 

Jernigan, like Christensen, said clean energy initiatives are attractive to the company’s employees and a tool to draw top talent.

“It’s a question that comes up: When are we going to do on-site solar?” he said. “A lot of folks have been asking for it and are excited to see it and it helps show Wells Fargo’s commitment. And [having the arrays] on-site is impactful for our employees, and they’re proud of the company for making this commitment.”

Kemin’s Christensen, who also sits on the city of Des Moines’ Mayor’s Task Force on Sustainability, said it’s necessary for businesses and governments to work together to achieve each other’s clean energy goals.

The Des Moines City Council earlier this year approved a resolution setting a goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2035.

“If we put a solar field on every piece of land on our campus, we, on our own, would not be able to produce enough energy to reach our 100% renewable goal, so it’s going to take partnerships, like the clean energy resolution, to be able to make up the difference for the energy we need to produce so we can at some point produce products with 100% clean energy,” Christensen said.

It’s important for the community to work together to achieve those goals, she said.

“We have to look at businesses and governments as a partnership. Otherwise businesses will do it on their own and governments will be left behind,” Christensen said. “I don’t want to see that for Iowa or Des Moines, because we want this to be an attractive place for a workforce and an attractive place for people to move to and see that our communities are doing the right thing and working together to accomplish these goals.”