Dundee Bank installs $34,000 worth of solar panels at its headquarters – Omaha World-Herald

Only $5 for 5 months

The lights turn on just like they always have at Dundee Bank’s headquarters, but forgive the folks at the bank if they get a happy jolt out of flipping the switch.

Since last month, the sun has been generating about 10%, sometimes more, of the bank’s electricity. That’s because 30 solar panels were installed on the building’s flat roof at 5015 Underwood Ave. The system will generate 14,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power the equivalent of 16 Omaha homes a month.

Mandy Mellott, vice president of marketing, said the solar panels are part of a broader effort by the bank to reduce its environmental footprint as it works to match its practices with the values of its customers.

The bank also installed geothermal at its headquarters, which reduces heating and cooling costs, and has undertaken a zero-waste initiative among other projects.

Helen Deffenbacher, executive director of Nebraskans for Solar, said the move by the bank is welcome news because it places the bank at the forefront in an area of renewable energy that is underutilized.

“Aside from farms, few businesses in Nebraska have installed solar,” she said. “That’s the area where solar is lagging nationally as well as locally, and there are so many benefits for business.” Notably, she said, businesses can tap federal tax credits and equipment depreciation.

Nebraska is rich in its potential for solar energy, but lags in tapping the sun. Nebraska ranks 13th for solar potential, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, but 39th in solar use, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Energy analysts say solar is coming into its own as costs drop — down about 40% in Nebraska over the last five years, according to the association.

Over the years, more than $85 million has been invested in solar statewide, the association estimates. The Dundee Bank project cost $34,000 and will save the bank about $44,000 over the next 20 years, Mellott said.

Among individual projects, most solar installations in Nebraska are on homes. Community solar projects, typically built by utilities, are gaining a foothold in Nebraska, with projects in place from Scottsbluff in the Panhandle to South Sioux City along the Missouri River.

The City of Fremont had so much demand for solar energy when it built its first solar farm in 2018, it quickly built another.

The locally owned Dundee Bank partnered with other local businesses on the solar project. Bluestem Energy Solutions designed it and Boyd Jones installed it.

Will Crane, director of product management for Bluestem, said businesses wishing to generate on-site renewable energy typically find that solar is more practical than wind. That’s because the size and design of solar can be more easily tailored to the needs of a business, and there are fewer zoning and siting issues, he said.

Wind tends to be a better choice for a site that uses significant electricity and has the room and zoning standards that allow for the towers and turbines.

Panels can be installed on flat or pitched roofs. The larger the project, the greater the economies of scale, he said. The state’s largest rooftop solar installation is at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, also a project of Boyd Jones.

“Solar fits most places these days, and you can build arrays any size you like,” Crane said. “You can install a small solar array on a building in a dense urban area, you could do a larger rooftop array on a big box store, or if there is ground available, you could install a ground-mounted solar array which gives the most efficiency out of a solar array.”

Photos: Our best staff photos of August 2020

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