EAGLE POINT SOLAR

Photo in 2011.

EAGLE POINT SOLAR. Eagle Point Solar had its grand opening in 2010. In 2013 its corporate offices were located at Suite 108, 900 Jackson Street while its warehouse was found at 923 Peru Road. The president and CEO was Barry Shear. (1)

In March 2013, an Iowa district court ruling involving Eagle Point Solar had the potential of being a “landmark decision” for solar development in the state. The Iowa Utility Board had prohibited Eagle Point from selling electricity to Dubuque from the rooftop installation. The utility board ruling came after the local utility, ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION, had protested to the Dubuque City Council in 2011 that the project violated their exclusive right to provide electricity to the city.

The utility argued that Eagle Point would be acting as a utility and encroaching on Alliant’s monopoly territory by selling electricity from its panels to power the building. The Utility Board agreed with Alliant in a March 2012 ruling.

The Polk County District Court, however, found that Eagle Point would not be acting as a utility. The court rules that the company could sign what was known as a third-party power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dubuque to sell the city electricity from the panels, which are owned by an investor and managed by Eagle Point.

Experts considered the ruling critical to the development of solar installations on city buildings, universities, churches, hospitals and other non-profit institutions in Iowa. Non-profit institutions can not take advantage of the tax breaks considered essential to making solar economical for many property owners. However, a for-profit solar developer could install panels on a non-profit institution’s property, collect the tax benefits and recover its costs with a profit by selling electricity directly to the institution. (2)

The Utility Board appealed the district court decision and the Iowa Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. (3) In July, 2014 the Court ruled in favor of the Dubuque company allowing it to sell solar energy "output" to the city from a panel of collectors on the top of the city's public works building. (4)

In 2013 the company announced plans to build Iowa's largest array of solar panels, tripling the size of what is now the state's biggest solar setup. Eagle Point Solar entered into an agreement with Farmers Electric Cooperative which would buy power produced from about 2,000 panels that will cover five to seven acres near Kalona. The co-op, which has about 640 customers, will take ownership of the solar farm after ten years. The operation was expected to eventually produce annually nearly 1 million kilowatt hours of energy. (5)

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Source:

1. Eagle Point Solar," Website. Online: http://www.eaglepointsolar.com/about-us/staff.html

2. Lydersen, Kari. "Court Sides with Iowa Solar Installer," Midwest Energy News, April 12, 2013. Online: http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2013/04/12/court-sides-with-iowa-solar-installer-in-dispute-with-utility/

3. Murphy, Erin. "Dubuque Company Will Build Largest Solar Panel Array in Iowa," Telegraph Herald, December 4, 2013. Online: http://www.thonline.com/news/tri-state/article_27a4aa84-5d40-11e3-b6b9-0019bb30f31a.html

4. "Ruling Paves Way for Solar Energy Growth," Telegraph Herald, July 16, 2014, p 4A

5. "Dubuque Company to Build State's Largest Solar Array," KWWL.com, December 5, 2013. Online: http://www.kwwl.com/story/24148438/2013/12/05/dubuque-company-to-build-states-largest-solar-array