From left, siblings Dayton, Dawson, Casein, and Easton Sash along with their dog Maverick pose for a photo on Saturday, June 7, in front of their family farm’s recently-installed, four-panel 80 kW solar array in rural Traer. Not pictured, sister Taelyn who was playing in a softball tournament with the GMG Wolverines and their parents Craig and Autumn Sash. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – It was a long cold winter for farmer Craig Sash as he waited for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development office to release more than $85,000 in matching funds granted in Nov. 2024 for the installation of a solar array on his Tama County farm. But after months of waiting, Sash finally received word this past March the funds were on the way.

“Some of the hold-up was on my end getting paperwork all wrapped up and finalized,” Sash explained in a recent email to the newspaper. “When the paperwork was reviewed, payment was to be made in 48 hours in early January, then Elon [Musk, then-special government employee heading up the Department of Government Efficiency] decided to look heavily into the USDA. By March, he decided I wasn’t a bad guy and all REAP funds were released.”

Sash and his educator wife Autumn along with their five school-age children operate a grain, swine, and cow/calf operation southwest of Traer, deep in the heart of the endlessly-controversial Salt Creek Wind project footprint. As a member of Tama County’s five-member Zoning Commission – which has been working for more than a year to update the county’s utility-scale solar energy systems ordinance – Sash has found himself more than once at odds, albeit respectively, with his fellow commissioners as a proponent of landowner’s rights.

The Board of Supervisors’ enactment in early January of tandem commercial wind and solar moratoriums combined with Sash’s subsequent vote the following month against re-adopting the county’s Land Use Plan (limiting the use of ag land with a corn suitability rating above an average of 60 to agricultural production only) only seemed to intensify the friction.

“Do I want to see solar panels cover farms? No, I don’t. But I’m still hung up on, that’s the landowner’s decision,” Sash said during a Jan. 29 Zoning meeting. “I don’t like the low CSR restrictions, you guys know that. … That just limits what people can do on their land. I don’t really like to be into that position – I don’t think we should be into that position.”

An aerial view of Craig and Autumn Sash’s rural Traer farm. The Sash’s new four-panel solar array is visible on the left side of the photo along the farm’s western edge. The array was made possible with help from a matching USDA REAP grant. DRONE PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAIG SASH

But when it comes to his new solar array, Sash said the decision to invest in the technology had nothing to do with being a maverick or foil for the county – it was simply about one thing, economics.

“I wasn’t necessarily planning on installing the panels initially when I was first looking into the project but once the payback was figured it was a fairly simple decision,” Sash said. “The grant potential definitely helped that decision along. The solar array was constructed before the grant was awarded, but the grant had to be applied for before anything could happen. So … they were getting built one way or the other.”

Sash’s four fixed solar panels are located on the far west side of his farm at the edge of a field. They are not visible from the road. Other than passing wildlife such as a turkey vulture soaring overhead or a fox skittering by, the panels affect basically no one other than the Sash family themselves.

The $85,500 grant Sash received was a Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Renewable and Energy Efficiency Program grant for the installation of a 68.4 kilowatt solar array on his farm. According to the USDA’s Nov. 14, 2024 press release announcing the grants, a total of $18,367,170 was awarded to 195 projects across Iowa “to strengthen the economy and lower costs for agricultural producers and rural small business owners.”

Regarding Sash’s project specifically, the USDA stated: “This project will realize $9,892 per year in savings and will replace 77,640 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year (100 percent of previous business use), which is enough electricity to power nine homes.”

DRONE PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAIG SASH

The REAP grant covered half the costs of panels, inverters, and wiring, Sash said. He first heard about the opportunity from Blairstown-based RABE Hardware.

“I’d been looking into panels a little and called RABE for [information] and pricing. They filled me in on the grant and hooked me up with a grant writer. … The application process was quite easy on my end but having a grant writer simplifies it. I think a person could write their own grant but I’d recommend a grant writer as they specialize in it.”

RABE Hardware also constructed Sash’s panels.

“The installation was very fast once all approvals were made. They did an excellent job and I’d recommend them to anyone,” Sash said.

Since March when the panels first began producing enough energy to outpace the Sash family’s demands, their monthly bill from Alliant Energy has hovered around $23 for the meter fee.

DRONE PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAIG SASH

“The hog barns and grain system are the biggest energy users on the farm,” Sash explained. “Alliant allows net metering which lets me bank excess energy produced in the summer months and credits that energy back in fall and winter when demand can potentially outpace solar production.”

A question many may be wondering – was this project permissible under the current moratorium? No, Sash told the newspaper.

“The current bullshit moratorium limits all projects above 50 kW,” he said. “Mine is a 80 kW installation. Falls under the unintended consequences I’ve cautioned them about. … They should not be able to limit personal solar, but the moratorium does not specify that, just the kW rating.”

Sash said the Land Use Plan adopted 4-1 by the Zoning Commission – himself the lone holdout – would also restrict a project like his, requiring anyone with a similar project in mind to apply for a variance through the Board of Adjustment.

In late May, the newspaper reached out via email to District 3 Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer), Sash’s supervisor and rural neighbor, for comment regarding the solar moratorium and its effect on projects like Sash’s.

“My hope is these kinds of scenarios would be discussed during the Zoning Commission meetings and included in their recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on the Solar Ordinance,” Knebel wrote. “We just put a pause to get an ordinance in place. If anyone has something in the works, please have them reach out to the Zoning Administrator or their Board of Supervisor.”

Knebel further said she believed in cases like Sash’s, the individual would need to apply for a Conditional Use Permit if the project was over the kilowatt threshold.

This past Monday, Sash was removed from his position on the Zoning Commission by a vote of 5-0 of the Tama County Board of Supervisors for “engaging in unprofessional communication with the public, thereby compromising the integrity and function of the Zoning Board.” He was not made officially aware of the resolution to remove him ahead of the meeting, only becoming aware once handed the resolution after the meeting started. Prior to the vote, board members did not cite any evidence to support their claims for removal.

Despite the hurdles Sash has had to navigate – both from the federal government and from his own local county government – he remains a proponent of solar on the farm.

“I’d certainly recommend looking into a solar array if anyone is considering it. It may or may not be feasible for each individual depending on their usage or power provider [as] some utilities don’t allow net metering like Alliant does so that definitely may alter their situation.”

When the newspaper dropped by Sash’s farm last Saturday for a photo of the panels, four of Sash’s five kids (one was at a softball tournament with Autumn) along with Maverick the dog were all running around while chickens clucked in the background and farm ducks shuffled behind the house. Overhead, the sun beamed down between breaks in the clouds, providing the energy necessary to keep Sash’s farm humming.