Solar power in Indiana

Solar power in Indiana has been growing in recent years due to new technological improvements and a variety of regulatory actions and financial incentives, particularly a 30% federal tax credit for any size project.[1]

US annual average solar energy received by a latitude tilt photovoltaic cell (modeled).

In 2015, Indiana ranked 18th among U.S. states for installed solar power with 136 MW of photovoltaic panels.[2] An estimated 18% of electricity in Indiana could be provided by rooftop solar panels.[3]

In 2011, Indiana's largest solar installation was the six acre array located on the roof of the Maj. Gen. Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Lawrence, Indiana, capable of generating a peak power of over 2 MW.[4] A 17.5MW plant built at the Indianapolis airport in 2013 was the largest airport solar farm in the U.S.[5] A 9MW solar farm was built at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014.[6][7] The 3.2MW Rockville Solar II is the largest solar roof installation in the state.[8]

Government policy

The Government of Indiana has taken a variety of actions in order to encourage solar energy use within the state.

Net metering

The state has a net metering program that allows installations of up to 1 MW of on-site electrical generation to continuously roll over any excess generation to the next month. Participation is limited to 1% of utilities most recent peak summer demand.[9] Peak summer demand for the state for 2011 was 20,251 MW.[10]

Feed In Tariff

Indiana's Northern Indiana Public Service Company, NIPSCO, offers a feed-in tariff of $0.30/kWh for systems from 5 to 10 kW, and $0.26/kWh for systems from 10 kW to 2 MW.[11] Indianapolis Power & Light has a Renewable Energy Production program that pays $0.24/kWh for solar from 20 kW to 100 kW and $0.20/kWh for solar arrays of from 100 kW to 10 MW. Payments are for 15 years, participation is limited, and one third of the program, 45,900 MWh/year, will be made available through a reverse auction. No new applications will be accepted beyond March 2013.[12]

Indiana Solar Energy Working Group

The Indiana Office of Energy Development has created the Indiana Solar Energy Working Group to promote the development of solar energy, including local manufacturing.[13]

Installed capacity
Source: NREL[14]
Grid-connected PV capacity (MWp)[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][2]
Year Capacity Installed % Change
20090.30.3>200%
20100.50.267%
20113.53600%
20124.40.926%
201349.4451022%
201411259111%
20151362421%
20162178160%
201728063
201832747
201942093

See also

References
  1. 30% No Limit Federal Tax Credit!
  2. Indiana Fact Sheet, Solar Energy Industries Association, accessed May 19, 2016
  3. Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation
  4. 6-acre solar energy project will be Indiana's biggest yet
  5. INDSolarFarm
  6. Indiana, SEIA
  7. 2 new solar farms being planned in Indiana, BloombergBusinessWeek, September 19, 2014
  8. REC Group powers largest commercial solar rooftop PV plant in Midwest United States
  9. "Indiana - Net Metering". Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  10. Indiana Electricity Projections pg. 1-7
  11. NIPSCO - Feed-In Tariff
  12. Indianapolis Power & Light - Rate REP
  13. Solar Energy
  14. "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  16. Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 20. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  17. Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  18. Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  19. Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  20. Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  21. Indiana Solar
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