MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Alliant Energy and the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA are working together to build a 1,200-panel solar array in Marshalltown.

Amanda Accola, a Key Account Manager with Alliant Energy, said that the project is customer hosted which means that the power company pays the land owner for using their land.

“Alliant owns and operates and maintains the solar array on customer-owned ground or rooftop and in exchange for a lease payment so the Y will be getting a monthly lease payment for the use of their land,” Accola said.

Accola said that Alliant Energy is open to building more customer-hosted solar projects.

“We do have a minimum of 200 kilowatts and this one, like I mentioned, was 500 Kilowatts. We will go up to 2.25 megawatts so there’s a lot of opportunity for customers,” Accola said.

Kim Jass-Ramirez, the CEO of the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA, said that the money that the YMCA-YWCA gets from Alliant Energy for leasing the land the solar array will be located on will go straight into programs for the community.

“Anytime we can get funding back to the Y it goes straight into the community so we support programs in healthy living youth development social responsibility and it also just showcases our commitment to sustainable energy,” Jass-Ramirez said.

The solar array is expected to be completed by the fall of this year.