Welcome to Bowling Green, home of the BGSU Falcons and the National Tractor Pull Championships, where ice is made from the sun and giant pinwheels dot the landscape.

Planning for the future, the City of Bowling Green continues its transition to environmentally-friendly renewable energy sources.

In early September, a bank of approximately 500 solar panels atop the roof of the University ice arena were activated and now help provide power to the ice arena.

With solar panels, chemical reactions are the key.

The solar energy process starts with sunlight that strikes the panels. A photovoltaic chemical reaction takes place, and DC current electricity is created. DC current, or direct current, is energy similar to that of a battery. That current flows to an inverter. The inverter then converts the electricity to AC current, which is the kind of electricity used when people plug appliances into outlets.

The ice arena uses compressors to keep the ice from melting. The compressors consume a large portion of the building’s electricity, so by using solar energy to partially power the ice arena, the University is essentially making ice from sunlight.

Currently the solar panels generate 30 kilowatts of electricity, a very small fraction of the power needed for the ice arena, said Daryl Stockburger, Bowling Green utilities director.

Since the use of solar energy has just begun at the ice arena, the full impact of its usage is yet to be seen.

“It’s only been in here such a short period of time,” said director of the ice arena Randy Sokoll. “It’s kind of difficult to get any type of reading on what exactly its impact has been.”

The cost of the solar panel project totaled $310,119. Financial assistance came from multiple sources. A pricing program called Bowling GREEN Power generated $215,119. Customers in the GREEN Power program pay an extra amount on their power bills in support of alternative energy programs. Ballard Power Systems also donated the inverter, valued at $60,000, for the project. The city also received a grant for $35,000 from the Ohio Department of Development.

The plan for installing solar panels on the ice arena began about three years ago. In order to receive the Department of Development grant, it was required that the project had to be on an educational facility or a building used for educational purposes.

“That narrowed it down to a big roof somewhere on a school or university, and the ice arena was the most suitable roof at the time,” Stockburger said.

The city plans on using the revenue from the solar panels to add more panels to the roof each year. Eventually the ice arena’s panels will have the capacity to produce 250 kilowatts of electricity.

The original proposal for the solar panels called for installation of all the solar panels at once, but the city wasn’t able to receive federal support. As a result, state and local funds are being used to complete the project one step at a time.

In addition to solar power, the city is also utilizing the strong, blowing winds of Bowling Green and converting it into electricity.

On November 7, 2003, the two large turbines, which look like huge fans or pinwheels, began operation. The giant turbine structures, standing 390 feet when the blades are at their highest point, each have the capacity to generate 1,800 kilowatts of electricity per year.

Two more turbines are currently under construction. The rotating blades of what will be the third turbine were installed two days ago. If all goes well, the turbines should be fully operational by the beginning of November.

Wind must blow over the blades at or above nine miles per hour in order for the them to produce electricity. If winds fall below that level, the blades may spin, but they won’t be producing electricity.

The current site of the turbines is owned by the Wood County Solid Waste District for landfill purposes. As a result, the land has to be reserved for landfill purposes, but the city is considering lease offers from area farmers interested in having their land used for wind turbines.

Wind power was chosen because GREEN power programs made them economical. The GREEN power programs help offset the high cost of GREEN energy technology, which is significantly higher than generating power from coal or other fossil fuels.

With all of the positives of green energy systems, there are also a few negatives.

“There is pollution created in their (solar panels) manufacture, but once they are installed, over time they offset that,” Stockburger said.

In addition to wind and solar power, Bowling Green also owns shares of hydropower from the Ohio River. The city also purchases electricity generated from landfill gas.

“It’s a diversification that allows us to have a little bit less of our supply subject to fossil fuel markets,” Stockburger said.

Most of the city’s focus has been on completing existing projects, so no new projects are specifically on the board currently. Stockburger said that as more cities in the state participate in wind projects, more turbines will go up, but he could not give a specific location where they would be.