“It’s the table where you serve Thanksgiving dinner, and the couch where you open Christmas gifts,” Jason Merschman said in a profile published by the City of Urbandale. Merschman is assistant vice president of Homemakers Furniture, a business that traces its roots to a store in St. Paul, Iowa, in the 1940s.
The roof of the Homemakers showroom in Urbandale now holds what the company described as one of the largest private solar arrays in Iowa, with panels covering more than 250,000 square feet across both levels of the showroom roof and part of the warehouse. “Not only does it make sense in terms of the power and cost savings, but it reinforces our commitment to building a business rooted in sustainability,” Merschman said in the company’s announcement.
Video Courtesy Homemakers Furniture
The crews working on those roofs came from 1 Source Solar, an Ankeny company that built the 1.33-megawatt system. The installer projected a 6.2-year payback period for the store, annual savings of $125,066, total tax benefits of $889,197, and a 30-year projected cash flow of $4,068,145. “Since 2015, the experts at 1 Source Solar have been helping clients across the Midwest save money and become more environmentally sustainable by installing high-quality solar energy systems,” the company wrote.
1 Source Solar reports that they’ve completed more than 1,500 projects, installed more than 30 megawatts of capacity, and created more than $10 million in client savings, with their own certified crews handling design, engineering, and construction. Solar Power World ranked the company fourth among Iowa solar contractors on its 2026 list, with 5,383 kilowatts installed in the state in 2025. In fact, 1 Source Solar notes, “Our team has been named among Solar Power World’s top solar contractors every year since inception.”
The company has worked with many different types of clients. Grow Solar Polk County, a group-buying program for local homes and businesses offered by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, The Nature Conservancy in Iowa, and 1000 Friends of Iowa, selected 1 Source Solar as its installer through a competitive request for proposals in early 2022. Over 2022 and 2023, the program added 583.63 kilowatts of solar and $1,624,802 in local investment across the county, the Polk Clean Energy District reports.
Its jobs range widely in size. The same team installed a 2.735-megawatt system with 5,470 panels at the Global Parts Distribution Center that Vermeer operates in Pella, and it equipped a home in Adel with a 10-kilowatt system with 20 panels that covers all of the household’s annual electricity use.
Photo Courtesy 1 Source Solar
Farms are where 1 Source Solar co-owner and President Todd Miller got his start. He began installing solar at hog, poultry, and grain sites as early as 2012. He now also serves as president of the Iowa Solar Energy Trade Association. Miller described the industry’s reach in August 2025 comments reported by KCRG: “From rooftops to row crops, solar energy benefits Iowans in both urban and rural parts of the state.”
The farm projects tend to pay for themselves quickly, based on the company’s figures. At Grant Pork in Waukee, a 39.3-kilowatt ground array produces 102% of the site’s power and carries a 3.5-year payback. A grain bin site near Kensett saves $5,870 a year and is expected to pay for itself in 3.3 years, with 30-year estimated savings of $181,720. A hog site in Duncan reached the same 3.3-year payback while covering 84% of its electricity use.
Photo Courtesy 1 Source Solar
Public budgets follow the same math. At Vinton-Shellsburg High School, 1 Source Solar installed 968 panels totaling 440.4 kilowatts. The savings go to operating costs such as teacher salaries, supplies, and maintenance. Shive-Hattery, the engineering firm on the project, reports that the school saves around $5,000 a month on utility costs, money that will help the district hire more teachers. “The project has already begun delivering the expected energy savings, making a positive impact on our district,” Superintendent Kyle Koeppen said on the firm’s project page.
In Mason City, Northern Iowa Area Community College chose a larger 2.55-megawatt system of 5,800 modules through a power purchase agreement, which allows the college to buy the system in its sixth year at a 40% discount.
Video Courtesy ShiveHattery
The company has built for congregations as well. It installed 58 modules at United Church of Christ in Urbandale and added 70 at Faith Assembly of God in Elk Run Heights. In Hampton, Franklin Rural Electric Cooperative offered a 172.72-kilowatt community solar array to its members, who fully subscribed to it.
Local governments have also signed on. In Des Moines, 1 Source Solar won the city’s bid for a 1-megawatt array of 1,794 panels on a six-acre former landfill. The project, 1 Source Solar wrote, “not only breathes new life into an underutilized space but also demonstrates a creative solution to environmental challenges.” The project was built to supply power to an animal control facility and a greenhouse, but the company explained, “It’s not just about powering buildings; it’s about powering progress.”
In April 2026, the Polk County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with 1 Source Solar to build a 1-megawatt solar field on 8 acres north of the county jail in Des Moines, enough to power about 1,000 homes. The county expects the field to offset about 25% of the jail’s yearly energy use, saving roughly $100,000 a year and about $3 million over its lifetime. “It’s important for the public to understand that our green initiatives must make financial sense,” Board Chair Matt McCoy explained of the county’s thinking in its announcement. He called it “a win for the taxpayers and for the environment.”
Photo Courtesy 1 Source Solar
That standard has guided customers from hog barns to county buildings. In Urbandale, light reflecting off the showroom’s white roof boosts the output of panels that supply more than a third of the store’s annual power, according to Homemakers. “When we started talking about this idea, we really saw how much it made sense for us,” Merschman said.
