Last week, Iowa legislators introduced three bills that would create a $10 million fund to incentivize homeowners and small business owners to install solar and wind on their properties. Iowa already is one of the nation’s leaders in wind, thanks to commercial installations, but its solar industry is behind other states.

Under one piece of proposed legislation, SF 99, introduced by State Senator Joe Bolkcom (D), homeowners and businesses could qualify for up to $3,000 in renewable energy rebates, and businesses could receive up to $15,000 in rebates. Of the $10 million, $4 million would go to homeowners, while $6 million would go to businesses.

The legislation would support the installation of roughly 1,300 homeowner projects and 400 business projects. The incentives would be in addition to federal and other local incentives.

Iowa Renewable Energy Association Managing Director Steve Fugate said “[The legislation] was a very good idea. Having something on your roof putting out 2,000 watts day after day after day definitely helps, especially as power costs keep rising.”

Incentives, according to Fugate, will also help reduce the return on investment time.

Proper incentives, including a feed-in tariff that pays more than wholesale to homeowners and small businesses, he said, can bring the payback time on a renewable energy installation to a range that’s attractive to homeowners.

“We’re starting to get PV [i.e. photovoltaics] into six to 10 year range. Businesses want to see 3 years,” he said. “A little legislation can go a long way toward incentivizing it properly. We’re also looking at what other states and nations have done and how it has worked out.”

The state previously had a $100 million fund to support renewable energy.

“The power fund was set up to promote or enable renewable energy,” he said. “Large companies could use the funding, but small businesses and homeowners were often kicked to the curb.”

The funding was largely used by large-commercial entities to boost the amount of wind power in the state.

“Wind scales up pretty easily, but it doesn’t scale down easily,” he said. As such, few homeowners could put wind turbines up, he explained. Now, “Iowa’s definitely looking to increase its solar capacity.”

While the legislation is expected to pass through the Democrat-controlled Iowa Senate, it is likely to face a much tougher battle in Iowa’s Republican-controlled House. Bloomberg reported that the state’s Republican Representatives are focused on budget-cutting measures and questioned where the money for the program would come from.

Pictured: No, that’s not where Lady Gaga lives. It’s Iowa’s state capitol building.