IAA Alum goes from Golf Course Green to Power Green

September 25, 2012

Is it possible to turn your knowledge of golf course greens into green power?  Ask Jim Kelley, class of 1982, who moved from a career in golf course management to President and Co-Owner KW Solar Solutions of one of Delaware’s largest solar power installers. So how do you go from golf course management to owner of a solar energy company? 

Jim arrived on the College Park campus in 1979 and initially matriculated in the university’s 4-year program in the area of Conservation and Natural Resources; however, a tight job market and golf course experience made Jim decided to enroll in the IAA in the fall of 1980.

Jim interned at Columbia Country Club under the well-respected and knowledgeable George Thompson. Upon graduation, Jim started as the Assistant Superintendent at Green Hill Yacht and Country Club in Salisbury, MD, and became Superintendent in 1986 when Lou White retired. From 1991 to 1998 Jim worked as the Golf Course Superintendent at Newark Country Club.

By then Jim’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and in 2001 he launched Evergreen Turf, a golf course construction and maintenance company that contracted with golf courses in Delaware and Maryland.  Soon after starting Evergreen Turf, Jim hit a major dilemma of how to get power to pond aeration fountains

Jim teamed up with Dale Wolf, owner of an irrigation company, and began investigating solar panels to drive the pond aerators.   The more research they did, the more the pair realized the opportunities in solar power.  In 2004 they started KW Solar Solutions, a company that sells, designs and installs residential and commercial solar power PV systems.  As interest in alternative energy sources increased, their company grew.  KW Solar was the first solar power installer and is the leading installer of solar panels in Delaware.

Jim believes many of his IAA courses provided him a strong foundation to develop analytical and managerial skills needed be a successful golf course superintendent as well as a company president.  Jim said his advisor and mentor, Dr. Kevin Mathias, was instrumental in his success “because Dr. Mathias was always challenging me both in the classroom and at educational conferences to embrace new technologies, whether it was for pest management practices or implementing GPS within the workplace.”   

You can learn more about KW Solar Solutions at http://www.kwsolarsolutions.com