PERU – The state’s newest solar park located at the headquarters of Miami-Cass REMC went on the grid last week producing enough energy to fully power around 250 homes a month.
Local and state officials gathered at the site Thursday to celebrate the occasion, touting the project as an example of the state taking steps to diversify its energy portfolio with renewable options like solar.
Wabash Valley Power started construction on the solar park in February after leasing 3.5 acres of land from Miami-Cass REMC, which provides electricity to around 6,000 customers in Miami and Cass counties.
The solar farm is located just north of the intersection of U.S. 24 and U.S. 31 and consists of 2,040 panels that produce 540 kilowatts of energy.
Wabash Valley Power is an Indianapolis-based nonprofit electric cooperative serving 23 member distribution co-ops in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Miami-Cass REMC is a member of the cooperative.
Wabash Valley Power President and CEO Jay Bartlett said Thursday his company produces electricity from a variety of sources, including agricultural waste, methane from landfills, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants.
But solar is the most reliable energy source of them all, he said.
“We have manufactures and residents and farms that count on us for electricity, and we’re not going to run out of sun,” Bartlett said. “The price isn’t going to go up on sun. It’s a fuel we can count on forever, so it occupies a very special place in our energy portfolio.”
The Peru project is part of a larger solar-energy initiative by the company, which also constructed one solar farm in both Illinois and Missouri this year. Andrew Horstman, manager of load response for Wabash Valley Power, said all three projects cost in total around $2.5 million.
The company is also purchasing energy from three other solar arrays. Wabash Valley will now be able to distribute in total 1.8 megawatts of solar energy to its members.
Lisa Richardson, communications manager from Wabash Valley, said in a previous interview the Peru solar park is the first project Wabash Valley has started since its board last year approved $6 million to add up to 2.5 megawatts of solar into the company’s generation portfolio.
She said while this initial solar project is relatively small, it allows the company to ease into solar production and learn more about the technology.
State Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, Thursday praised Wabash Valley for taking the initiative to add solar to its energy portfolio which, in turn, diversifies Indiana’s energy options.
“Electricity is a precious commodity, and we need to be receptive to new and advancing technology,” he told the crowd at the dedication ceremony. “We really don’t have a silver bullet, but we do have sunlight, so let’s utilize it.”
Miami-Cass REMC President Rob Schwartz said he used to believe solar farms would never work in Indiana, and held off from installing one in Peru. But his perspective on solar energy has changed as it’s become a more viable option to produce electricity.
“Ten years ago, if you said we’d have a solar site here, I probably would have chuckled at you and said, ‘This is Indiana. That belongs out west,’” Schwartz said. “But today, with solar as a growing source of energy, it makes sense to have it here.”
Richardson said Wabash Valley selected Peru for its first solar park because of the available land that provides easy connection to the grid, which has the capacity to handle the project. She said it’s also a site that’s visible to the public so members are aware of the option they have to sign up for solar.
Rep. Friend said the park’s location on a hill near the intersection of two major highways is one of the best ways to get the word out about solar energy.
“Today, here in Miami County, we’re dedicating a solar-panel project to produce electricity as an example to the public so that all our citizens can learn more about it here in rural Indiana,” he said.
The new solar park will be the second to open in Peru in the last two years.
The Indiana Municipal Power Agency put its new $5.3-million solar park onto the grid in August 2015. The park is located on 30 acres of land at the end of Jackson Avenue and contains 11,850 solar panels that produce 3 megawatts of energy.
Company officials said all the energy produced at that solar park is being used within the city of Peru, and generates enough electricity to fully power around 400 homes.
Wabash Valley’s Horstman said with the growing popularity of solar energy, it won’t be uncommon to see more communities like Peru that are home to multiple solar parks.
“Solar is growing a lot in the Midwest,” he said. “You’re seeing it around more and more places. Soon, it won’t be surprising to see multiple solar arrays in the same county.”
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