Construction Starts On Logansport Municipal Utility's First Solar Power Project

by Taelor Bentley
APPA News
Posted July 8, 2020

Inovateus Solar has begun construction of Logansport, Indiana’s first solar power plant. The installation will be developed for Logansport Municipal Utility (LMU).

Financed by a power purchase agreement (PPA), the solar installation will reduce LMU’s carbon emissions, help to stabilize energy costs for LMU’s customers, and also host a bee and butterfly habitat that will benefit agriculture in the surrounding area.

The 30-year PPA, financed by Alchemy Renewable Energy, allows LMU to purchase the solar generation at a fixed kilowatt-hour rate with no upfront capital costs, Inovateus noted.

The contract also includes options for LMU to buy the solar energy system in the future.

The 16-megawatt solar installation will be sited on 80 acres and construction on the solar project is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. LMU recently retired a coal-fired power plant.

Inovateus noted it is also designing a solar education program and launching a college scholarship contest for naming the solar park.

Inovateus has also designed a 45-foot vegetation buffer around the solar array. The buffer will feature native Northern Indiana tress, plants, and more than 100 tulip trees donated by the community.

Inovateus has partnered with Fresh Energy and the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund to plant a pollinator seed mix under and around the solar panels instead of traditional ground cover. The pollinator mix will cultivate honeybees and butterflies that local farmers rely on for pollinating their crops.