Earlier this year the Area Plan Commission, Fayette County and the City of Connersville nailed down the details of the first solar ordinance in Fayette County regulating what the rules and process of placing solar energy systems in Fayette County. Little did those creating the ordinance know there would be interest in this kind of project so soon after.
Hoosier Solar was before the APC to share the company was looking to build at least part of a utility scale solar development in Fayette County.
Mason Gordon represented Hoosier Solar at the meeting. Also in attendance was Rush County Economic and Community Development Corp. Executive Director John McCane as Rush County has familiarity with these types of agreements, and because this project would be mostly in Rush County.
Gordon said there are lease options in Fayette County and people willing to bring the project into the area. Though he added they would not be looking to bring in an application imminently, but wanted to give the APC a chance to plan the process for approving an application when it comes.
McCane explained how Rush County’s solar committee works to give local APC members an outline, that they could choose to follow or not depending on their own preferences. McCane said that despite this being the same project looking to come into both counties the process can be different in each county. Two years prior Rush and Henry County had a similar scenario.
The project would mainly be in Rush County, but also in Fayette County around the Glenwood area. Gordon said this project would represent a $270 million investment in total, with about 30 percent of the assets in Fayette County for roughly $81 million investment into Fayette County.
McCane said he believed this project would improve the price of ground assessments for land immediately after the project is online. McCane also said in Rush County a roughly $40 million solar unit from 2020 lowered the property tax for everyone in the county by around $12 annually.
Rush County gave a tax abatement for the equipment involved in the 2020 project according to McCane.
APC member Robert Stewart said he didn’t anticipate having an issue with the solar farm coming in, instead he wanted to know what the approval process would be like and how Rush County handled it in the past.
McCane and Fayette County Attorney Geoff Wesling said all branches of County government would likely be involved in the approval process.
APC member Gary Naylor said he was afraid of passing solar farms through that could be problems for the farming in the area, to which McCane said from his experience the businesses looking to place solar farms are typically very good at talking to neighbors to their projects and working with them. APC president Brian Durham said it was emphasized in the creating of the county’s solar ordinance to be collaborative with agriculture in the area.
“I think we did a very good job addressing it in the ordinance,” Naylor said. “I just wanted to bring it out, bring it to the surface.”
Gordon said they are not in a huge time crunch for the project, but would likely be starting with permitting in Rush County first around the end of the year, and then probably begin in Fayette County in 2023.
APC Director Bill MacDaniel said he wanted to know the timeframe as there were several other big projects upcoming such as a few dollar stores looking for permits, the new Reid facility, among others. MacDaniel said getting the timeframe would help with coordinating everything.
Naylor asked if the market for solar farms is stable enough that businesses are seeing these projects through, instead of passing them along to other companies. Naylor referenced previous wind farm efforts in Fayette County.
“Those companies and projects were coming and going in a revolving door so to speak,” Naylor said. “There was companies selling out projects and another company buying them up. I think Fayette County’s project changed hands two or three different times and it still never got built. Are we seeing the same trend with solar or are these good enough investments the companies are sticking with it and seeing them out throughout?”
Gordon said these solar farms are solid investments and that Hoosier Solar’s intention is to build and operate the facility.
McCane said he appreciates that the two communities compete on the basketball court and football field, but can work together on a project of this nature.
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