As Seen In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: October 24, 2007
Belleau Farm displays solar panels
By Nancy Cambria
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Oct. 24 2007
O'FALLON, MO. — Less than 100 yards from his stone and timber home, just down
the driveway from a stable full of muddy all-terrain vehicles, Adolphus Busch
IV is the proud owner of five new massive solar panels, angled toward the sun
atop steel structures resembling white football goal posts.
The $100,000 system makes Busch owner of the region's largest personal solar
power plant, according to energy officials.
On Tuesday, Busch, 54, powered up his growing devotion to environmental causes
when he opened the gates to his secluded Belleau Farm estate and let the public
in. Busch, along with several proponents of renewable energy, held a news
conference to celebrate solar power and its potential to become a part of the
everyday lives of farmers and homeowners.
Although he is an heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune, he's been a fairly
reserved member of the clan. He's lived on his 2,000 acre working farm in the
Mississippi River flood plain near O'Fallon since the 1970s, mostly overseeing
fields of corn, wheat and soybeans and a small herd of lumbering longhorn
cattle.
But as development in booming St. Charles County continues, Busch has
increasingly used his clout and deep pockets to pepper the St. Charles County
political scene. He's backed local candidates with an environmental bent and
fought development on the flood plain through his conservation group, Great
Rivers Habitat Alliance.
His 10-kilowatt solar electric generation system, installed by Farmergy of
Kirkwood, is designed to power his home and several barns and outbuildings.
The massive towers are expected to cut Busch's $1,500 in energy costs by half,
and pay for themselves in a little over 10 years
But penny-pinching is clearly not why the multimillionaire is going greener.
"I've been studying climate change and talked quite a bit to people to do
something on the farm," Busch said just moments before remarks from Lt. Gov.
Peter Kinder, State Sen. Joan Bray, various energy officials and Busch himself.
"I would hope it reflects my personal beliefs and commitment to the use of
renewable resources," Busch said later.
The event was intended to stress that renewable energy like solar power isn't
just for the rich or hard-core environmentalists who choose to live entirely
"off the grid" of traditional electrical power. New legislation sponsored by
Bray and pushed by Farmergy officials has made it easier for property owners —
particularly farmers — to tie a personal renewable energy system such as solar
or wind generators into the existing electrical grid, ensuring they have a
steady supply of electricity when the weather goes gray.
The "easy connect" act, passed in late spring, allows owners of solar systems
to get a one-to-one credit for any additional power they generate that goes
back into the power grid for other users. Previously, those owners were only
getting the wholesale value of their surplus electricity — about half of its
value — which made it financially unreasonable for frugal farmers, said Henry
Rentz, a vice president at Farmergy who helped draft the new rules.
Bray said "easy connect" along with her wish for greater incentives will make
solar power and other sources of renewable energy more attractive to property
owners.
Farmergy CEO Mark Green said corporate campuses and other major facilities on
the west and east coasts have been using solar power for years. But Missouri's
solar users are mostly farm owners, and they number less than 100. Most of them
went to renewable energy with the assistance of Rentz through his previous
company, Missouri Valley Renewable Energy.
Busch said he's already had a visit from officials at Emerson to look at his
new solar plant and hopes Belleau Farm will set the stage for other homeowners
to go solar. Even if they don't, he said, the presence of the panels sends a
message to everyone to tread lighter in the world.
"If we can just get more people to think about how they can live more
efficiently — whether it's through the light bulbs they use or the electric
types of cars they can drive — hopefully it can make a big difference."
****Solar Night Industries is a equity shareholder and partner of Farmergy. Both companies are headquartered in St. Louis, MO
