TIPTON — Indiana Municipal Power Agency is eying 11 acres in the city of Tipton’s industrial park for a solar farm.
The proposed solar farm will generate an estimated 2 MW. If all the proper approvals go through, the solar farm will be owned and operated by IMPA and the electricity generated will be used to diversify the city’s electricity, according to Tipton Mayor Tom Dolezal.
IMPA is an energy co-op made up of 61 communities in Indiana, including Tipton, Peru, Gas City and Anderson.
A little more than seven of the 11 acres of the solar farm will be located on part of the southern edge of the 60 acres the city and county bought together in 2020 to expand the city’s industrial park and jointly own. The other four acres will be located on land that is directly east and is owned by the Tipton County Economic Development Foundation.
The Tipton County Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a purchase agreement with IMPA for the seven acres at $12,000 an acre with the stipulation there would be no tax abatement on the solar farm. The commissioners sent the purchase agreement to the County Council for their “blessing,” though County Attorney Mark Regnier, in a letter to the County Council, said he believed the council doesn’t need to approve the agreement.
The city has yet to approve the purchase agreement, and Jim Ankrum, general manager of Tipton Municipal Utilities, said a purchase agreement for the remaining four acres owned by the Economic Development Foundation is being finalized.
If built, the solar farm will be IMPA’s second in the county. The other is the 5.25 MWsolar farm IMPA opened in 2019 along Indiana 28 just west of the city.
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