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between ɬ�﷬, local power company Alliant Energy, the Ahrens Family Foundation, the Mayflower Community, and the City of ɬ�﷬ became operational recently, generating 3.15 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year to the College and ensuring that 75% of its power will come from renewable sources.  

Situated on 19.25 acres of land on the west side of the city, is collectively owned by ɬ�﷬, the Ahrens Family Foundation, the Mayflower Community, and the City of ɬ�﷬. Alliant Energy leases the land and operates the solar array.   

The Solar Park is the second solar power partnership ɬ�﷬ has forged in the last two years. In 2024, ɬ�﷬ entered into a power-purchase agreement with Pioneer Solar, which operates a solar array in the northern part of the city, that provides 32% of the college’s electricity. At the time, the Pioneer Solar installation was the largest in the state.  

ɬ�﷬ can now boast that 75% of its energy now comes from renewable sources. The two solar projects—the Solar Park and the Pioneer Solar partnership—now account for almost half of ɬ�﷬’s electricity needs, a significant commitment to renewable energy. The remaining electricity to power the campus comes directly from Alliant Energy, whose grid is 50% renewable.  

The Pioneer Solar project offsets 18% of campus emissions, while the recently operational Solar Park offsets 9%. 

In a few short years, ɬ�﷬ has made significant strides in powering its campus with renewable energy.  

“We are light years better than we were,” says Chris Bair, environmental and safety manager for ɬ�﷬. “There aren’t many campuses that have used so many models and been so flexible in finding ways to use renewable energy and lower emissions.”  

The commitment that ɬ�﷬ has made to using energy from renewable sources is the result of a focus on sustainability that began back in 2017 with the formation of a Fossil Fuels and Climate Impact Task Force by the Board of Trustees, the subsequent creation of a Sustainability Committee, and the institutional adoption of a formal Sustainability Plan in 2018. That plan provided a road map to increased sustainability and set a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.  

Responsible environmental stewardship is also a component of the College’s strategic plan, Knowledge into Action, which sets as an objective to have “ɬ�﷬’s campus planning, institutional policies, and external partnerships demonstrate a deepened stewardship of our environment.”  

The solar-power partnerships are essential in reaching this strategic-plan objective, but other recent initiatives have helped to foster what the Strategic Plan calls a “land ethic that centers on biodiversity and sustainability.” In spring 2024, ɬ�﷬ partnered with Re:wild Your Campus and Beyond Pesticides to through a pilot project of land management that used aeration, seeding, compost, and organic fertilizers.  

The Center for Prairie Studies and Facilities Management, in a project driven by students, developed a tract of land near the Harris Center with plants indigenous to the prairie region; the College recently selected another plot of land on the South Campus for a similar seeding, which occurred on Earth Week. ɬ�﷬ is also developing a virtual arboretum that will allow people to find information online, direct from their phones, about all tree species on campus and their ecological benefits.