Steffensmeier Welding & Manufacturing officially started utilizing our 430.66 kW solar array back in 2016. Today, this large array saves SWM approximately $92,000/year in electrical costs and will reduce carbon emission by 8,917 metric tons over the next 25 years. 

What now seems like a no-brainer was not such an easy decision to make back when the initial idea was brought up. 

“I knew solar energy was out there. I occasionally drove by houses with solar panels on the roof or would see a few panels next to a farm. But, I think because I had seen solar on a smaller scale, I never really thought of it for Steffensmeier Welding. Not to mention, I was in a very transitional stage of my life when I took on this role here at SWM. My husband was dying, I still had obligations as a mother of five children and here was this business that I now had to take over with my prior career path being a radiology technician.” – Jenny Steffensmeier, Owner of SWM

It took an education process to understand how the solar was going to work and work for SWM. Although SWM was projected to save $2.5 million over a 25-year time period from implementing the solar array; there were significant initial costs in getting the array up and running. 

It took courage to make this decision for the future of SWM and the future of manufacturing. At the time, solar was a relatively new concept for the manufacturing industry. 

“As the new owner and decision-maker of the company, I didn’t want to make a huge decision like this for the company without thinking it through.” 

There were other manufacturing plants using solar energy, but it was not very common and it was not common for the entire plant to be run solely off of solar energy. Steffensmeier Welding & Manufacturing was one of the first fully solar-powered manufacturing and fabrication facilities of our size in the state of Iowa. 

“Honestly what gave me the confidence to pull the trigger was our partnership with Ideal Energy. Troy, Amy and the Ideal team provided exceptional, genuine support throughout the entire process. I felt like they didn’t want me to make any decisions without educating me first. Their level of transparency was very evident throughout the whole process, which made me feel they were the ideal partners.”