Bloomington moving forward on solar power

Now, things are lining up for it to go from the “pie in the sky” to a feasible reality, she said.

During the past decade or so, City Hall has cut its energy consumption in half, she said, and per-watt solar costs have come down from $8 to $3 in that same time span.

“That means the universe is telling us it’s time to put up solar panels,” Bauer said.

Installing solar panels on City Hall “would send a message to the community, to the state, that Bloomington, Indiana, really is getting behind solar,” said Loren Stumpner, supervisor at Stumpner’s Building Services, during a presentation in April.

Stumpner, whose company joined with MPI Solar to install solar panels on the county’s portion of the Showers Building in 2012, said there’s great potential to install more solar panels on top of the building, including the portion that houses City Hall.

And now the city also has the available funding — which was a barrier before — thanks to the $48 million tax increment financing bond issue approved earlier this year.

The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission last week approved the project concept as an appropriate use of TIF funds, which starts the project down the road to completion.

There’s still a way to go — the commission hasn’t yet officially approved the funding for the project, estimated to cost a total of about $921,750. And the project itself has an estimated timeline of about two years.