WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. -- A major water park resort in Wisconsin Dells is using solar power panels to save money and help the environment.

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It not only costs a lot to heat all the water that resorts use, it also takes a lot of energy. Saving 10 percent a year on utility bills by using solar panels might not seem very significant, but for a large resort like the Kalahari, 10 percent in utility savings from using solar panels adds up to $400,000.

More than 500,000 people visit Kalahari Resort every year, so workers have lots of towels and linens to wash. In the resort's laundry area, they use roughly 1,800 gallons of water each day, which adds up to more than 657,000 gallons a year.

Starting Friday, much of that hot water is being heated from the rooftop of the resort.

"It's a very simple process," said Don Wichert, of Focus on Energy. "The sun shines; it goes through a special glass; it's collected on the other side of the glass through copper tubing which has fins with a special absorption paint on top of it."

The panels -- 104 of them -- absorb about 50 percent of the sun's heat. That heat is sent through a heat exchanger, which heats the water being sent to the laundry room. Much of the hot water in guest rooms is also heated with solar power.

John Chastan, Kalahari's general manager, said the solar panels are helping the resort save about 10 percent on its annual $4 million utility bill.

"We spend a large amount of money on energy, as you can imagine, throughout the resort and the water park," Chastan said. "So, anything like this that can save a little bit over time, over the course of using it, will pay for itself."

The use of the panels means that 400 tons of carbon dioxide won't be released into the air, WISC-TV reported. Wichert said he hopes other large resorts take notice.

"We think there's a huge opportunity in Wisconsin, and in other places to use it, especially for places like the Kalahari, that use a consistent amount of hot water every day," Wichert said.

Wisconsin's Focus on Energy provided the resort with a $50,000 grant to help cover the startup costs. The Kalahari Resort said the project cost was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but officials said they hope it will pay for itself with the energy savings within five to seven years.

The Kalahari Resort said it will evaluate how the current system works and will consider expanding the solar water heating initiative to the water park.