Wisconsin's Only Solar Collector Manufacturer to Work with Organic Valley

Bubbling Springs Solar will join with Organic Valley, a farmer-owned cooperative of more than 1,300 organic family farmers nationwide in La Farge, Wis., to provide discounted bulk purchase rates for solar thermal collectors. This collaboration will help make solar energy affordable to their member farmers, and employees. Additionally, Organic Valley is currently working with Wisconsin’s Focus On Energy to assess the feasibility of installing Bubbling Springs’ flat plate collectors at one of their facilities in La Farge.

“We are extremely excited to work with Bubbling Springs Solar on this joint venture. Organic Valley and our farmer owners recognize the potential of harnessing the sun, both for the environment and for our bottom line. We remain committed to lowering our carbon footprint and believe clean, renewable energy generated on site is a cornerstone to achieving this goal,” said Jennifer Harrison, Sustainability Program Manager, Organic Valley.

Bubbling Springs Solar is dedicated to providing manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin and to making high-quality solar thermal collectors readily available to the growing customer base in the upper Midwest. Bubbling Springs Solar collectors have been created in line with strong values for both renewable energy and for environmentally friendly manufacturing. Organic Valley is also a mission-driven organization that has grown dramatically since their inception as a small, organic farmer cooperative in 1988. Now the organization has more than 1,300 member farmers in 33 U.S. states and Canada that produce award-winning products, including milk, eggs, juice, soy and produce, and a full range of meat products under the Organic Prairie label.

Until last spring, Bubbling Springs Solar was located in the University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Business and Technology Incubator. Prior to inhabiting the Stout incubator, Bubbling Springs was a part-time business hatched by husband and wife team Luisa Gerasimo and Mike Helfman on their Bubbling Springs Farm west of Menomonie. Helfman, a former UW-Stout student, identified a need for locally built solar collectors while attempting to repair collectors on the farm. After prototyping and building collectors on their organic family farm for several years, they moved into the Stout incubator and started the difficult process of having the collectors tested and certified.  Solar Rating Certification Corporation (SRCC) certification in late 2007 brought marked growth in sales and the company soon outgrew the incubator facility.  Applied research with the UW-Stout Chemistry Department and the employment of UW-Stout students continues in their new space in the local technology park. With many state incentives and the ongoing federal tax credit for solar thermal equipment, the company expects strong growth in the solar thermal market for the region in the coming years.

You can learn more about Bubbling Springs Solar at http://bubblingspringssolar.com and more about Organic Valley at: http://www.organicvalley.coop.