Indiana municipal utility association launches another solar park

The Indiana Municipal Power Association (IMPA) dedicated another photovoltaic installation to add to its power mix at one of its member communities on November 7th. The City of Greenfield hosts a 2.84 MW “solar park” on land the city sold to the IMPA. This system will be IMPA’s 15th installation totaling almost 28 MW of capacity, in sizes ranging from 0.25 MW to a 5 MW in Anderson. The IMPA owns all of these PV systems, as part of a portfolio of power plants and purchased power that is still fossil fuel dominated with a fuel mix of 69.1% coal, 19.4% nuclear, 6.1% natural gas and 5.4% renewable energy. This mix is somewhat less carbon intensive than the Hoosier State as a whole, reported by the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

The IMPA PV systems are about 10% of Indiana’s solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. In their latest annual report, the municipal association intends to add about four solar parks with 10 MW of solar capacity per year, with an eventual goal of an installation in every one of their 61 member communities. The solar electricity either goes into the general power mix, or residents can elect a 100% green power allocation containing solar, wind and other sources at varying levels of participation at a premium of one cent per kilowatt-hour.

The municipal association makes the dedications celebrations and education events for the communities that host installations. In a recent IMPA newsletter, the President and CEO, Raj Rao, stated “IMPA is proud to be a leader in solar construction and development in Indiana. We have long prioritized having a diverse power supply portfolio, which helps keep our wholesale rates stable. Solar parks are one way that we can help achieve that, and it’s even better when we can invest in and involve our local member communities in that process.” Power generation output of some of the solar parks can be observed on IMPA’s solar parks web page.