Chuck Isenhart is an investigative reporter, photographer and recovering Iowa state legislator offering research, analysis, education and public affairs advocacy at his Substack newsletter Iowa Public Policy Geek, where this essay first appeared.
In 2014, Raki Giannakouros and Blue Sky Solar put six solar panels on the roof of my house. I have not paid for an electron since. The installation has paid for itself multiple times. Even with Alliant Energy’s recent 19 percent daily “customer charge” increase, my monthly bill is still less than a Thomas Jefferson.
When natural gas prices doubled for everybody in the months after the Texas freeze, I was able to use an electric space heater on many winter nights to avoid the worst of the gas price surge. All made possible by a net-metering policy in Iowa that allows me to generate power the utility can sell to others in the summer (avoiding costs for the utility) that I can reclaim in the winter (when electricity demand is down).
True, I also lowered my consumption with some other energy efficiency improvements: more insulation in the attic (using the gas company’s rebate program), installing LED bulbs, replacing the windows. Still could use some more weatherization. All of that makes sense no matter how you get your power—if you can afford an up-front investment to reduce your electric bills and carbon footprint.
Before 2022, when the technology was gaining traction and the state was building a new energy workforce, Iowa had a 15 percent solar tax credit, based on a 30 percent federal credit. That made the investment easier.
The state program enjoyed bipartisan support and, between 2012 and 2024, resulted in 9,829 business and residential installations using $53 million in state incentives—less than 12 percent of the $450 million value of all projects. That brought in $126 million in federal assistance. Dubuque County was one of the four top adopters. Consumers producing their own free energy are insulated from future utility price increases and the ballooning costs of transmission.
How did the program compare with other state investments? In 2024 alone, 708 Iowa businesses claimed $64 million in “research activity” bennies from the state (whether or not that research resulted in new jobs). $37.6 million went to just fourteen companies. In 2024, the state paid out $54.5 million in credits from previous years. Of that, $36.3 million went to 449 claimants as cash payments—meaning they didn’t have enough Iowa tax liability to offset.
In 2023, 20 companies each received more than $500,000 in credits, totaling $71 million. The largest chunks went to Deere & Company and Rockwell-Collins, which are now cutting jobs in Iowa.
In this light, renewable energy investments seem to be a superior long-term investment for Iowa. But Iowa’s solar energy incentive program was “sunset” in 2021, while the research credit continues to get extended.
State Representative John Forbes (third from right), a pharmacist by day, put solar panels on the roof of his pharmacy in Urbandale using Iowa’s state solar energy incnetive program. At the time, the array offset 80 percent of the building’s energy use, paying for itself in just eight years and “profiting” the business another $63,000 over the expected life of the panels.
I served on a Legislative “Tax Expenditure” Review Committee, which received reports on these and other “automated” off-budget spending programs that forgive taxes otherwise owed. The committee never subjected programs to stiff performance reviews, so the solar incentive never got the credit it deserved.
According to the Iowa Solar Energy Trade Association, the solar industry directly employs more than 1,000 workers, not including supply chain and manufacturing jobs: 100 solar energy companies and at least nine facilities making solar parts. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, total solar investment in Iowa has exceeded $1.7 billion, with almost 19,000 installations. Prices have fallen 42 percent since I was an “early adopter.” On the worker side, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has embraced clean energy, including solar.
Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculations, the 167 megawatts of solar generation capacity installed in Iowa using the tax credit programs reduces annual carbon emissions by an estimated 275 tons and six other greenhouse gases by 639,000 pounds. Bonus points earned if any of the output is used to power electric vehicles taht would otherwise run on fossil fuels. Iowa’s total solar capacity of 1100+ megawatts is already enough to equal one large or two medium-sized coal plants and power all the homes in the City of Des Moines.
So, good for consumers, good for business, good for workers, good for the environment. Win-win-win-win. Thus, good for government to keep promoting, no?
Ahhhhh, no. Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted unanimously to unravel most of the federal government’s support for clean energy. Your chance to use the incentive I did is fast running out.
No home improvement is complete without a solar array. If you live in the shade or rent, “community solar gardens” should be an option for you. Unfortunately, Iowa does not allow them if your utility does not approve.
The federal tax credit program for residential solar, wind, geothermal, and battery storage now expires at the end of this year, not 2034 as originally planned. (Helpful hint: If you want to squeeze in an installation, the whole process takes a couple of months starting with consultation. But: make sure your utility will “interconnect” you with their system so you are in service before December 31 or you will be SOL. Installers say some utilities have notorious reputations for dragging their feet.)
Churches and non-profits with big energy bills can also still get in on the deal through the Elective Pay program with the up-front help of donors who like to see tangible returns on investment like this church.
In related news, Iowa’s Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, along with Representatives Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn, and Randy Feenstra also eliminated the energy efficient home improvement credit (December 31), the new energy efficient home credit (June 30, 2026) and the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction for property construction that begins after June 30, 2026. All of these serve to reduce energy consumption and climate impact.
Dubuque’s Franciscan Sisters became early adopters after the Pope wrote “Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.”
Kicking Elon Musk’s ass, Republicans ended incentives for new electric vehicles, used electric vehicles, commercial clean vehicles and charging stations, effective September 30.
Also tanked: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, including the $7 billion “Solar for All” program’ that had already committed monies to 49 states to help low-income Americans access solar energy. The EPA originally said the program would produce over $350 million in annual savings on electric bills for low-income households across the country. (No biggie, I suppose: Iowa submitted an application so poor it was rejected.)
Other pieces of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund under attack: The National Clean Investment Fund, the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program, and the Environmental Justice/Community Change Grants program.
Iowa’s director of the Office for State-Federal Relations reported no communications or records advocating for the preservation of any programs or indicating any heartburn over how Iowa is impacted by cuts in Public Law No. 119-21.
I wrote to Debi Durham of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, asking if that agency has quantified the potential or certain Iowa impacts of changes to federal climate or clean energy programs. I also asked if the agency or any other state entity on her behalf advocated with federal officials to support energy and related programs benefiting economic development in Iowa. To date: No response.
If word coming from other state departments is any indication, the answer is “no.” For example, the director of the Iowa Department of Transportation stated that, “consistent with our normal practice, Iowa DOT did not advocate with federal officials on the BBB.” (Scott Marler reported that the federal Low-Carbon Transportation Materials grant program was eliminated, costing Iowa DOT $31.9 million. Additionally, he noted that a $750,000 grant for the City of Waterloo was yanked. The city was planning a “Downtown Waterloo Railyard Relocation and Railroad Crossing Improvement Study” when the federal Neighborhood Access & Equity Program was rescinded.
Similarly, Jess Benson—chief financial officer at the Department of Health and Human Services—testified to a legislative committee earlier this year that the department just rolls with the federal punches. On August 21, DHHS released an eight-page “budget snapshot” on the “potential financial impacts to Iowa” of the 2025 budget reconciliation bill passed by Congress 49 days earlier. No mention of direct hits to Iowa’s SNAP or Medicaid users. No mention that DHHS or another state entity advocated with federal officials in support of programs or funding benefiting Iowa.
I have asked similar questions of Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon about changes in EPA programs and mission. For example, if the Trump administration succeeds in repealing the finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, will DNR notify the Iowa Utilities Commission that the house of cards justifying the public necessity for interstate carbon pipelines has collapsed?
Former Iowa State Senator Rob Hogg, author of “America’s Climate Century,” speaks at the public dedication of the solar array at Christ Episcopal Church in Cedar Rapids. Built using the federal Elective Pay tax rebate, the project is reducing pollution by an estimated 40 tons of carbon dioxide each year — the equivalent of 4,000 gallons of gasoline. The church saved $7,000 on electricity costs the first year. The investment will pay for itself in seven years. The gardens planted underneath produced 160 pounds of beans for local food programs.
For now, that’s about all I can cover in 1,000 words about the damage Congress has done at Trump’s bidding. Could easily take 10,000. At a time when people are hyper-attentive to inflation in the costs of living, energy expenses loom large. Why Iowa’s elected representatives would avert their eyes from onerous tariffs and rubber-stamp a “big beautiful bill” that can only stoke inflation—taking away tools that people can use to deal with it—defies rational explanation.
Just because our gardens are growing cucumbers doesn’t mean we have to make pickles. Backing away from clean energy while continuing to subsidize fossil fuels and mandate biofuels puts us in a pickle, making even the wildest dreams come true for those who advocate for a so-called “all-of-the-above” energy future (meaning “don’t leave fossil fuels behind”). When Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises (Ecclesiastes 1:5, by the way), he was alluding to the cyclical nature of life, the oscillation between hope and despair. Congress tells us the sun is setting. (Solar battery makers tell us otherwise.)
Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple continue building energy-hog “data server farms” in Iowa, with generous public subsidies (though few non-construction jobs will result). This drives up the demand for both electricity (and water), putting ordinary consumers on the hook for footing the bill.
Alliant Energy wants to build a fossil fuel generating station to slake the energy hunger of Google and QTS server farms in Cedar Rapids. The more natural gas gets sucked into power plants, the more we will pay to heat our homes when demand outstrips supply, as it often does during long climate-induced winter freezes. (On the other hand, I understand heat exchangers can help cut that umbilical cord.)
Ordinary customers (or “rate-payers” as utilities like to call us) have no seat at the table when those utilities come to the Iowa Utilities Commission for rate increases and guaranteed returns on investment more than twice what you and I can get on a certificate of deposit. The Consumer Advocate in the Attorney General’s office engages in no direct consultation with consumers. The Iowa legislature abolished the Consumer Advocate’s Advisory Council.
In 2024, the Utilities Commission rejected a petition I submitted on behalf of several members of the Iowa House of Representatives in Alliant Energy’s service territory to “intervene” (represent our constituents) in the “contested case” on Alliant’s rate increase. Being an intervenor would have allowed us to submit testimony, engage in discovery (ask questions that other parties would be required to answer) and cross-examine witnesses. Average citizens can submit written input, but nothing in current law requires the Commission to consider or respond to that input if not provided through an intervenor.
So that’s the picture/pickle we find ourselves in. Not pretty. Barack Obama’s hope is a necessary but not sufficient ingredient to prevent bitterness from souring the sweet vision of a future without fossil fuels.
Bill McKibben’s latest treatise—Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization—tells us about those ingredients. I’m on page 100. One thing I did learn: September 21 is “Sun Day” of Action. Check it out here, then post on social media how you are salting the movement to change.
The sun will rise again. Let’s put it to work. In case you hadn’t notice: It works for free.