A new solar farm is coming to Terre Haute Regional Airport that will help pay for high school aviation classes. It’s a proposition airport Executive Director Craig Maschino calls “win-win.”
“We received a $500,000 grant from the state of Indiana to pay for the solar farm, but we have to pay it up front and then they reimburse us,” Maschino said. “We’re looking at having this thing online by the end of the 2025.”
Maschino said some of the equipment for the solar farm, which will be on the northeast side of the airport, will be purchased in January. It will have a number of financial benefits.
“We offset our energy costs every month, so that’s about $100,000 every year,” he said. “We sell renewable energy credits and those actually go out to market and companies like Duke Energy, American Airlines, Delta, they like to buy these renewable energy credits, and they bid on them.”
He added, “These are very attractive energy credits because the revenue is going to support a high school aviation program.”
He added, “That’s one of the reasons we received the grant from the state of Indiana was because of the high school program. It’s a win-win for everyone.
“We’re going to offset our carbon emissions, we’re going to raise some funds to offset our energy costs and the revenue above and beyond all that goes to help fund for the high school program,” Maschino concluded.
The Vigo County School Corp. approved the Aviation Academy program for juniors and seniors on Dec. 16. Students can earn their private pilot license at age 17.
The airport’s aviation academy already has more interested students than it can accommodate.
“With one instructor, we’re at 25 students,” Maschino said.
Students from other West Central Indiana can participate in the program if enough openings become available.
“We have a lot interest from non-traditional students who would like to take these courses at night,” Maschino said.
“That’s our next phase, to go into workforce development courses in the evening.” Students can transfer their aviation credits to Indiana State University and Ivy Tech. Entering the aviation workforce can prove lucrative, as professional pilots and aviation maintenance workers earn between $60,000-$150,000 annually.
“That’s a great wage for Terre Haute, and that’s why the airport board is trying to make all this happen,” said Maschino, who noted that a shortage in aviation and professional pilots is expected through 2050.
“So that’s our strategy — we train the workforce and then we get them the jobs they need to stay in Terre Haute,” he said, adding that increased workforce can be marketed to lure additional aviation companies to Terre Haute.
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