SunSmart Ames Solar Farm

View real-time output of the community solar farm!

What are SunSmart Power Packs?

SunSmart Ames is a 2MW community solar farm located between Airport Road and Highway 30. The project makes clean solar energy more accessible to customers with shaded roofs, those who live in apartments, rent their homes, or for any other reason cannot install solar panels on their own property.

Customers of Ames Municipal Electric System can buy shares in the solar farm, called “Power Packs.” Each Power Pack is a one-time investment and represents 175W of generating capacity. The original price of Power Packs was $300. Each year, the price of the Power Packs will reduce by $15 to reflect the years remaining in the contract term. As of January 10, 2025, the price of power packs is $225, and will reduce by another $15 on December 10, 2025.

Power Pack Holders will receive monthly credits on their utility bill. Bill credits are expected to average around $1 per month and are based on the actual production of the solar farm for the duration of the 20-year contract. Achieving a payback is possible, depending on solar output. It should be noted that people typically do not sign up for SunSmart to make money, but to use green, renewable, sustainable electricity.

How can I purchase a Power Pack?

You can purchase your SunSmart Power Packs with a paper or electronic purchase form, both found using the links below. Before purchasing Power Packs, please read the SunSmart Power Pack Terms and Conditions(PDF, 212KB).

• Download a "print and mail' form to purchase Power Packs(PDF, 273KB)
• Complete an online form to purchase Power Packs

If you have any questions, please call 515-239-5177.

Power Packs are fully transferable and can be donated to other Ames Municipal Electric customers, applied to your new home should you move within Ames Municipal Electric territory, remain with the home should you move outside the service territory, or sold back to the utility.  The only requirement is that the credits remain inside the Ames Municipal Electric System.

Project Milestones

• 
  October 10, 2017: The FAA approved the Environmental Assessment and FONSI for the solar site. Due to the proximity of the solar farm to the James Herman Banning Municipal Airport, the project required FAA approval.
• July 23, 2019: City Council voted unanimously to sign a contract with ForeFront Power to begin development of the community solar farm.
• Winter 2019 - Spring 2020: Site surveying and engineering design to the solar farm.
• July 2020: Site grading, access road construction, and boundary fence
• July 24, 2020: The SunSmart Ames project groundbreaking
• September 2020: Electrical work, install posts and racking
• October 2020: Panel installation and preparation for transformer installation
• November 2020: Interconnection and Commissioning
• December 23, 2020: Completion of the SunSmart Solar Farm
• February 2021: Project participants received their first bill credits

Each Power Pack, over the 20-year life of the customer contract, could:

• Produce enough electricity to power one average home in Ames for about nine months
• Offset 10,000 miles driven by car
• Take one car's emissions off the road for a year
• Reduce CO₂ equal to about as much removed by one acre of trees  
• Reduce CO₂ emissions by about five tons

The entire SunSmart Ames solar farm, over 20 years, could:

• Offset 113 million miles driven by car
• Take more than 11,000 car's worth of emissions off the road
• Reduce CO₂ equal to that removed by about 11,000 acres of trees (an area the size of Boone, Story City, and Huxley combined)
• Reduce CO₂ emissions by about 57,000 tons
• Produce enough electricity to power 440 Ames homes each year 

SunSmart Ames was made possible through the participation of over 1,000 Ames residents, businesses, and organizations, including: