Veterans bring highly sought skills to Iowa’s clean energy workforce

Throughout nearly a decade serving as a Navy Seal, Troy Van Beek has witnessed the ways war can change countries.

From serving in Afghanistan to Africa and beyond, he was propelled by the disparities he saw around the world. To help make a difference, Van Beek returned to the U.S. in 2006 to earn his degree in sustainability from Maharishi International University in Fairfield.

“There was just such a divide between those that had those resources and those that didn’t,” Van Beek said about his time serving. “I had gone through an experience where I was accosted by somebody that was just so deprived and that experience itself was something that triggered me, and it really forced me to take a look at how I could be a help.”

This led Van Beek to found Ideal Energy in 2009, before he graduated from college.

Initially it was an energy efficiency company, as Van Beek wanted to reduce carbon use. But as he got more involved in the work, Alliant Energy began offering solar energy incentives.

“Our business quickly pivoted toward solar,” Van Beek said. “As I like to say, it tends to be more sexy than putting plastic over your windows and changing up your light bulbs.”

Ideal Energy, which is based in Fairfield, used to work with residential and commercial energy, but now accommodates commercial and industrial developments.

When he kick-started his company, the term “sustainability” wasn’t used the way it is today. Van Beek said it took time for people to start to understand it. Now, it “rolls off the tongue” easier, he said.

Van Beek — who is originally from Wisconsin and graduated from high school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — came to Iowa for college because it was the only university he could find that offered a four-year degree in sustainability.

But since Van Beek started in the renewable energy industry in the early 2000s, job opportunities and awareness about the sector have boomed — especially for veterans.

Milt Buker is vice…