Hongwei Zhang and other researchers installed hardware at the Iowa State University’s Research Park for CyNet, an advanced wireless networking system that’s a predecessor to the new ARA rural broadband project. Photo provided A $16 million rural broadband research project will cover nearly 40 miles of rural communities and farmland, researchers told state and industry […]
Researchers at Iowa State University and their partners are receiving $7 million in federal funding from the National Science Foundation to support the ARA: Wireless Living Lab for Smart and Connected Rural Communities, a Central Iowa project of the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program. The ARA also received $1 million in financial support […]
UScellular donated 140 wireless hotspots and at least 13 months of service to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa to ensure internet access through the 2021-22 school year, the company announced this week. The hotspots boost connectivity for Boys & Girls Clubs locations, and are loaned out to families to support access for […]
A Polk County judge will allow a lawsuit filed by Mediacom against the city of West Des Moines to continue after West Des Moines filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January. The judge granted the partial dismissal of the first claim, in which Mediacom alleged the city’s use of the Urban Renewal Program to designate the majority […]
Kinetic by Windstream is partnering with Vermeer Corp. in Pella to provide construction equipment for broadband expansion across 18 states, Kinetic announced this week. The expansion will add nearly 1,000 jobs, and projects in more than 70 locations will begin in 2022.
A review of solar energy projects at Iowa’s schools, cities and other public entities reported average annual savings of more than $26,475, state Auditor Rob Sand announced recently. Eighty Iowa communities are currently using solar energy installations, and the average savings over the lifetime of an installation was $716,437, Sand said. The full report, titled […]
The Federal Communications Commission awarded more than $143 million to 11 broadband providers as part of a national initiative to bring broadband to 10 million Americans, the FCC announced Friday. The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund awarded 11 broadband providers grants ranging from $8,586 to $112,637,885 to deliver speeds of 100 megabits-per-second download in rural Iowa. […]
Alliant Energy is seeking applications for its 2021 Innovation Scholarships, which will award 25 students a $1,000 scholarship. Applicants must be age 24 or under and enrolling for the first time at an undergraduate school, and must be a dependent child of a current Alliant Energy customer or a customer themselves. More information is available online.
A tower torch with a flame of up to 20 feet high once burned excess methane gas away at WRA facilities. Now after a nearly $20 million upgrade over the last few years, the WRA can convert excess biogas into natural gas for residential and commercial energy. Photo provided by the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater […]
A combined solar field and battery storage facility hosts more than 9,500 solar panels at Alliant Energy’s Marshalltown Solar Garden, the first project by Alliant that combines solar panels and battery storage in the state. Set next to Alliant Energy’s Marshalltown Generating Station, the solar panels power about 400 homes, and the battery powers about […]