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The 139th Airlift Wing recently installed solar panels on the roof of the aircraft engine shop. This is the second project of its kind at the base and there are two more projects planned.

The Missouri Air National Guard is leading the way in the development of solar power in Northwest Missouri. That was the opinion of Susan Brown, a representative for the Energy Savings Store, as she stood on the roof Wednesday of the 139th Airlift Wing’s Aircraft Engine Shop, where 135 panels had been installed as a solar array.

These units will produce 4,000 kilowatt hours a month, or enough electricity to power three or four homes, Ms. Brown said.

And at Rosecrans, it will produce the power for the engine shop building and send excess power to other buildings on the base, said Doug Cerra, the base’s project engineer in charge of solar energy.

The goal is to meet an executive order that requires a 30 percent reduction in the use of electricity and natural gas by 2013, Mr. Cerra said. That order also requires all federal entities to use renewable resources for at least 13 percent of their energy consumption by 2013.

By the end of this calendar year, the 139th will have five times as many solar panels, or about 700 on a total of five buildings.

Contracts have already been awarded to do the Civil Engineering, Operations and Wing headquarters buildings, said Lt. Col. Grace Link, the base civil engineer. The base could save about $89,000 a year, Mrs. Link said.

The good news is that these projects use panels made in America, and Miljavac Electric, a St. Joseph company, is doing the installation, Ms. Brown said. So the effort is sustaining jobs in the region and maybe creating more jobs, she said.

This electricity will reduce the base’s need during peak times this summer, and that means it’s also reducing the carbon footprint, he said.

The base started with a trial project on the Newlon hangar that used about 45 solar panels. It’s already producing 60 percent of the power needs for the west side of that hangar, Mr. Cerra said.

The good news is that the base at Rosecrans has already met its 30 percent gas reduction with conservation measures, and these solar projects could lower the base’s electrical needs by about 40 percent, Mr. Cerra said.

New base buildings, such as the fire station on the northeast side of Rosecrans, also use alternative forms of energy.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.