The Indiana Municipal Power Agency solar farm in Washington is the only solar plant in operation in Daviess County now. County officials are wanting to put some new regulations in place in case an expected solar farm expansion should hit the county. Washington Times Herald File Photo
Daviess County officials are looking to creating some new rules that would impact the development of solar farms in the county. The move is a reaction to growing interest in development in the area.
“Daviess County is getting a lot more requests for land acquisitions or to lease property for solar operations,” said Daviess County Commissioner Michael Taylor. “I want to make sure that everyone knows what is going on. We don’t want to control the projects but we want everyone to know what is going on and where the projects are so that there is some control on the trucks going up and down the roads during construction.”
Southern Indiana is no stranger to the developing solar energy industry. In 2010, solar made up less than 1% of the energy generated in the U.S. Now, it is 3%. During that time the Indiana Municipal Power Agency put up 37 solar farms including one in Washington. Hoosier Energy built a solar farm near I-69 in northern Martin County, and Duke Energy constructed its lone Indiana solar operation at Crane.
With utilities like Duke looking to eliminate their carbon footprint by 2050, that means more solar farms are under consideration in the future.
“Duke is definitely interested in further solar development in Indiana,” said Duke spokesman Angeline Protogere. “The 17-megawatt operation in Crane is our largest in the state. In the long view, we are looking at a great deal of solar energy in the future. Currently, we have announced no new projects but we are working on more solar development.”
Daviess County has been involved in the energy business for decades. Coal mines operated for years. There are also oil wells and in more recent years, a resurgence of gas wells. Local officials think solar will be the next energy market for Daviess County.
“More and more we are hearing that there are companies out there reaching out to land-owners to acquire property,” said Taylor. “Just like we have seen gas wells and oil wells in the past we will be seeing solar farms in the future. We are just trying to stay in front of it and protect our infrastructure.”
Part of the attraction of Daviess County to solar operators goes back to the transmission systems that came from the quickly closing coal-fired power plants.
“They like to put these farms where there is a high-power transmission line and we have a lot of those crisscrossing the county,” said Taylor.
Daviess County is going to start the process with a recommendation from the Advisory Plan Commission.
“It’s a complex subject and we should get as much information as we can before we take action,” said Commissioner Ron Arnold.
One thing officials are not looking to regulate are the small solar set-ups at homes and shops.
“We’ve got a lot of Amish that have 10 or 20 panels on their barns or whatever,” said Taylor. “That is not what we are talking about. This is for commercial solar farms where you have hundreds and hundreds of acres involved. If you have a 500-acre solar site that will bring in a lot of trucks to build that and that can be hard on the roads.” The Daviess County regulations on clean energy are pretty limited, but that is not the case in the Indiana General Assembly where there are multiple bills working their way through the session.
“I know legislatively Senator (Mark) Messmer (R-Jasper) is bringing back the bill he presented last year,” said Commissioner Nathan Gabhart. “The Indiana Association of County Commissioners are supportive of that bill. It looks like there will be protection on the state level.”
Senate Bill 411 would give the Indiana Economic Development Corporation authority to declare counties and communities as ready for solar and wind development. It also calls for the farms to meet acceptable industry standards and calls for the IEDC to let potential developers know what specific zoning or other permits will be needed for the project.
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