Bitterly cold. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low -8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph..
Bitterly cold. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low -8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph.
Updated: January 22, 2026 @ 8:54 pm
School board members including president Josh Wykert, district superintendent Mike Wolter and school board member Kelly Nelton listen to a presentation on solar panels. (Angie Holland/The Daily Democrat)
Mohrfeld
Mohrfeld
School board members including president Josh Wykert, district superintendent Mike Wolter and school board member Kelly Nelton listen to a presentation on solar panels. (Angie Holland/The Daily Democrat)
Mike Mohrfeld, with Mohrfeld Electric and Solar spoke Wednesday evening to the Fort Madison School Board about installing a solar energy system in the district.
Solar is very common in the area, Mohrfeld said.
“When we talk about public projects, we have to go to market a little bit differently to capture the 30% tax credit,” he said. “So that’s where Red Lion Renewables comes in. We partner with Red Lion to bring the tax credit to the table for nonprofits to take advantage of.”
That tax credit, Mohrfeld said, is set to expire July 1.
“Due to the ‘big beautiful bill,’ the residential tax credits ended Jan. 1 and the tax credits go away July 1 for commercial projects,” he said. “We have to have projects started before July 1. What we see as a challenge for that is it takes about three months to get an application through Alliant Energy’s fingertips. So there definitely is a time to act.”
Local solar projects have included projects for Lee County the city of Fort Madison, and neighboring school systems such as Keokuk, Mediapolis and Wapello.
Just last week, the Central Lee Community School District approved a solar power purchase agreement with Red Lion Renewables.
Mohrfeld said 100% of Mohrfeld Electric’s solar projects are done in-house. He said the hardest part of a solar project is the electrical integration to the building.
“We’re doing all of that work in-house,” he said, “along with the entire installation of the system.”
Additionally, he said he wants to educate people on renewable energy.
“A big part of why I want to get involved in some of these solar projects is there is an education component to this,” he said. “With renewables, there’s some misconceptions out there and it’s way too politicized. I do embrace the opportunity to go out before and after projects are sold, get into classrooms, explain to students how they work.”
Mohrfeld said solar panels on rooftops gets DC power and converts it to AC.
“In this application, it would be a power purchase agreement meter that would monitor all of the electricity that’s produced,” he said. “That meter is parallel with the meter that’s currently feeding your building. What we do is offset the usage that is coming through the utility meter.”
Mohrfeld explained further that “right now we’re paying the utility company anywhere between 18-20 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity. What we’re doing is selling that eletricity through the solar power purchase agreement meter at a lower rate, offsetting all of the power coming through the utility meter and that’s where you yield the savings, is through the power purchase agreement.”
Customers buy the electricity from the power purchase agreement; they’re not buying the equipment.
“They’re simply leasing the space the solar panels sit on,” Mohrfeld said. “Through that agreement any warranty conversations are inherited. If the system were to go down, it’s the third party investors’ concern to get the system back up and running. The third party investor is also able to capture the federal tax credits that are attached to the system. They investor has put money into the project to capture that tax credit.”
Mohrfeld said with the consolidation project combining the elementary schools into one building and the junior/senior high into another building, the school district “dropped off” quite a few electrical meters.
He said the company looked at the elementary school, the junior/senior high, the football fields, some parking lots and the district office.
The district is looking at doing a roofing project at the junior/senior high, which could impact a solar project.
Mohrfeld said approximately 20% of the high school roofs where solar panels would be placed are approaching end of life.
Superintendent Mike Wolter said Mohrfeld is trying to avoid putting solar panels on an end of life roof and then having to come back in five years, pull up the panels, redo the roof and replace the panels.
The lifespan of the system is a 20-year contract, but anytime after year six, the district could purchase the system outright and own it. Mohrfeld said the assumed lifespan of the panels is more than 35 years. Inverters, he said have about a 10 year lifespan.
Mohrfeld said life savings could be in excess of $60,000 through the power purchase agreement.
As this was just a presentation item, the board took no action.
Mohrfeld
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Bitterly cold. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low -8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph.
Bitterly cold. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low -8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph.
Considerable cloudiness. Very cold. High around 0F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
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