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Solar power in Indiana

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US annual average solar energy received by a latitude tilt photovoltaic cell (modeled).

Solar power in Indiana has been growing in recent years due to new technological improvements and a variety of regulatory actions and financial incentives, particularly a 30% federal tax credit for any size project.[1]

In 2015, Indiana ranked 18th among U.S. states for installed solar power with 136 MW of photovoltaic panels.[2] An estimated 18% of electricity in Indiana could be provided by rooftop solar panels.[3]

Community Solar Array, Linden

In 2011, Indiana's largest solar installation was the six acre array located on the roof of the Maj. Gen. Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Lawrence, Indiana, capable of generating a peak power of over 2 MW.[4] A 17.5MW plant built at the Indianapolis airport in 2013 was the largest airport solar farm in the U.S.[5] A 9MW solar farm was built at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014.[6][7] The 3.2MW Rockville Solar II is the largest solar roof installation in the state.[8]

The Mammoth Solar project in Northwest Indiana broke ground in October 2021, and when complete it will be the largest solar project in the United States, with more than 2.8 million panels producing more than 1 gigawatt of power.[9][10] The first 400 MW phase was completed in July 2024.[11]

Government policy

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The Government of Indiana has taken a variety of actions in order to encourage solar energy use within the state.

Net metering

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The state has a net metering program that allows installations of up to 1 MW of on-site electrical generation to continuously roll over any excess generation to the next month. Participation is limited to 1% of utilities most recent peak summer demand.[12] Peak summer demand for the state for 2011 was 20,251 MW.[13]

Feed In Tariff

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Indiana's Northern Indiana Public Service Company, NIPSCO, offers a feed-in tariff of $0.30/kWh for systems from 5 to 10 kW, and $0.26/kWh for systems from 10 kW to 2 MW.[14] AES Indiana has a Renewable Energy Production program that pays $0.24/kWh for solar from 20 kW to 100 kW and $0.20/kWh for solar arrays of from 100 kW to 10 MW. Payments are for 15 years, participation is limited, and one third of the program, 45,900 MWh/year, will be made available through a reverse auction. No new applications will be accepted beyond March 2013.[15]

Indiana Solar Energy Working Group

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The Indiana Office of Energy Development has created the Indiana Solar Energy Working Group to promote the development of solar energy, including local manufacturing.[16]

Statistics

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Installed capacity

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Source: NREL[17]
Grid-connected PV capacity (MWp)[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][2]
Year Capacity Installed % Change
2009 0.3 0.3 >200%
2010 0.5 0.2 67%
2011 3.5 3 600%
2012 4.4 0.9 26%
2013 49.4 45 1022%
2014 112 59 111%
2015 136 24 21%
2016 217 81 60%
2017 280 63 29%
2018 327 47 16.7%
2019 420 93 28.4%
2020 473.3 53.3 12.6%
2021 1,618.8 1,145.5 %
2022 1,640 21.2 %

Utility-scale generation

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Utility-scale solar generation in Indiana (GWh)[25]
Year Total Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2013 29 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 11
2014 103 3 4 7 8 10 12 11 11 11 11 9 6
2015 155 7 9 13 15 15 15 16 17 14 12 12 10
2016 227 9 17 15 17 21 21 24 24 24 21 19 15
2017 276 8 19 22 22 30 35 33 31 31 18 15 12
2018 290 12 10 29 34 34 33 38 32 27 21 9 11
2019 322 13 20 29 30 31 35 43 40 29 24 15 13
2020 358 12 17 27 31 37 48 45 42 35 30 19 15
2021 532 24 25 45 63 71 69 68 69 68 52 47 68
2022 1,162 60 72 94 101 121 142 131 122 110 100 64 45
2023 243 47 86 110

Major projects

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This section is an excerpt from List of power stations in Indiana § Solar.[edit]
Name Location In service
dates 		Nameplate
capacity 		Owner(s)
Riverstart Solar Park Modoc 2021 200 MW[26] Connor Clark & Lunn Infrastructure [80%]
EDP Renewables North America [20%][27]
Bellflower Solar Project[28] Henry County 2023 152.5 MW Lightsource bp
Mammoth North[29][30][31] Starke County 2024 400 MWdc Doral Renewables
Mammoth South[29][30][32] Pulaski County 2025
(under construction) 		300 MWdc Doral Renewables
Indiana Crossroads[33] White County 2023 200 MW NIPSCO
Dunns Bridge 1[33] Jasper County 2023 265 MW NIPSCO
Cavalry[34] White County 2024 200 MW NIPSCO
Honeysuckle[35][36] New Carlisle 2024 188 MWdc Lightsource bp

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 30% No Limit Federal Tax Credit!
  2. ^ a b Indiana Fact Sheet, Solar Energy Industries Association, accessed May 19, 2016
  3. ^ Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation
  4. ^ 6-acre solar energy project will be Indiana's biggest yet
  5. ^ INDSolarFarm
  6. ^ Indiana, SEIA
  7. ^ 2 new solar farms being planned in Indiana[dead link], BloombergBusinessWeek, September 19, 2014
  8. ^ REC Group powers largest commercial solar rooftop PV plant in Midwest United States
  9. ^ Bowman, Sarah. "Northwest Indiana will be home to largest solar farm in U.S., covering 13,000 acres". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  10. ^ "Mammoth Solar | Doral Renewables". Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  11. ^ Brown, Alex. "Doral CEO excited to bring Mammoth North Solar project to the grid". Inside INdiana Business. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  12. ^ "Indiana - Net Metering". Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  13. ^ Indiana Electricity Projections pg. 1-7
  14. ^ NIPSCO - Feed-In Tariff
  15. ^ Indianapolis Power & Light - Rate REP
  16. ^ Solar Energy
  17. ^ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  18. ^ Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  19. ^ Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 20. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  20. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  21. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  22. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  23. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  24. ^ Indiana Solar
  25. ^ "Electricity Data Browser". U.S. Department of Energy. March 28, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  26. ^ "Form EIA-860 detailed data with previous form data". US Energy Information Administration. September 5, 2020. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  27. ^ "Edp Renewables Sells Stake In 200 Mw Solar Project To Connor Clark & Lunn". Pv Magazine Usa. January 3, 2022. Archived from the original on January 30, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  28. ^ "Bellflower Solar enters commercial operations" (Press release). Lightsource bp USA. 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  29. ^ a b DeVore, Molly (December 24, 2022). "Largest solar farm in the country moves forward in northern Indiana". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  30. ^ a b Mills, Wes (November 3, 2022). "Mammoth Solar enters next phase of $1.5B project". INside Indiana Business. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  31. ^ "MAMMOTH NORTH SOLAR |". doral-llc.com. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  32. ^ "Mammoth Solar". Doral Renewables. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  33. ^ a b "NIPSCO brings online its first two Indiana solar projects". Power Engineering. July 12, 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  34. ^ "NIPSCO's Electric Generation Transition Continues with Completion of Third Solar Project" (Press release). NIPSCO. August 19, 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  35. ^ "Honeysuckle Solar comes online" (Press release). Lightsource bp. October 17, 2024. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  36. ^ Semmler, Ed (March 14, 2023). "Pushing through cold: Work is ramping up at Honeysuckle Solar Farm near New Carlisle". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
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