DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 11, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits, Class-A Affiliate of the Houston Astros, have partnered with Century Electric and Solar of Eldridge, Iowa, to install a small solar farm on the roof of Modern Woodmen Park. The 58-panel array, paid for without any city or state money, is located on the roof of the suite level on the third-base side. It uses green energy to offset the annual electric-usage of the new state-of-the-art LED outfield-lights.
A press conference announcing the addition of the solar farm will be held at 10AM on Wednesday morning inside the Sports Lounge at Modern Woodmen Park.
Prior to the 2017 season, the River Bandits became one of the first three teams to install LED lights in their ballpark, and the only club below the Triple-A level. The lights have improved visibility for the players on the field while also limiting light-pollution and glare for the fans in the ballpark. The new lights have already reduced the team’s energy consumption by 40 percent. The introduction of the solar panels will reduce it further still.
“Our LED field-lights have reduced glare, light-pollution, and electricity demands while creating an optimal environment for the Astros’ top prospects,” said River Bandits owner Dave Heller. “Climate-change is a very real problem; the flood-waters surrounding our beautiful ballpark illustrate that all too clearly. Our new Century Electric solar farm takes our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint even further. We are lowering energy consumption, conserving electricity, helping the environment, and leading our industry toward a greener future.”
“We at Century Electric and Solar of Eldridge, Iowa, are proud to have teamed up with the River Bandits and the City of Davenport to provide solar energy for one of the most iconic facilities in the Quad Cities,” said owner Aaron Griesenbeck. “This is a great project and we believe it will be a model in the region.”
The River Bandits recently secured their third consecutive trip to the Midwest League playoffs and are close to clinching the first half Western Division championship.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2019 season marks the River Bandits’ seventh year as the Class-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and the twelfth anniversary season of regaining the River Bandits moniker, which was voted a top-8 nickname in all of Minor League Baseball in 2015. The River Bandits anchor the Quad Cities sports market, which The Sports Business Journal in their latest rankings named one of the top-two minor-league sports-market in the country. Each year the River Bandits donate three annual all-tuition-paid college scholarships, a value of approximately $85,000, as part of the Bandit Scholars Program, which has been in place since 2009. Charitable contributions surpassed $600,000 in 2018, including a $100,000 cash donation to Genesis Health Systems; in 2015 and again in 2017, Ballpark Digest awarded the Bandits its “Best Charity Campaign” of the year, making the River Bandits the only team to win that coveted award twice.
