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]

Community Solar Array, Linden

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]

The Mammoth Solar project in Northwest Indiana broke ground in October 2021, and when complete it will be the largest solar project in the United States, with more than 2.8 million panels producing more than 1 gigawatt of power.^[9][10]

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.^[11] Peak summer demand for the state for 2011 was 20,251 MW.^[12]

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.^[13] AES Indiana 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.^[14]

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.^[15]

Statistics

Installed capacity

Source: NREL^[16]

Grid-connected PV capacity (MWp)^{[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][2]}

Year	Capacity	Installed	% Change
2009	0.3	0.3	>200%
2010	0.5	0.2	67%
2011	3.5	3	600%
2012	4.4	0.9	26%
2013	49.4	45	1022%
2014	112	59	111%
2015	136	24	21%
2016	217	81	60%
2017	280	63	29%
2018	327	47	16.7%
2019	420	93	28.4%
2020	473.3	53.3	12.6%
2021	1,618.8	1,145.5	%
2022	1,640	21.2	%

Utility-scale generation

Utility-scale solar generation in Indiana (GWh)^[24]

Year	Total	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2013	29	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	10	11
2014	103	3	4	7	8	10	12	11	11	11	11	9	6
2015	155	7	9	13	15	15	15	16	17	14	12	12	10
2016	227	9	17	15	17	21	21	24	24	24	21	19	15
2017	276	8	19	22	22	30	35	33	31	31	18	15	12
2018	290	12	10	29	34	34	33	38	32	27	21	9	11
2019	322	13	20	29	30	31	35	43	40	29	24	15	13
2020	358	12	17	27	31	37	48	45	42	35	30	19	15
2021	532	24	25	45	63	71	69	68	69	68	52	47	68
2022	1,162	60	72	94	101	121	142	131	122	110	100	64	45
2023	243	47	86	110

See also

•  Renewable energy portal
•  Energy portal
•  United States portal
•  Indiana portal

• List of power stations in Indiana#Solar
• Wind power in Indiana
• Solar power in the United States
• Renewable energy in the United States

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^{[dead link]}, BloombergBusinessWeek, September 19, 2014
8. REC Group powers largest commercial solar rooftop PV plant in Midwest United States
9. Bowman, Sarah. "Northwest Indiana will be home to largest solar farm in U.S., covering 13,000 acres". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
10. "Mammoth Solar | Doral Renewables". Retrieved 2021-11-10.
11. "Indiana - Net Metering". Retrieved 2012-06-09.
12. Indiana Electricity Projections pg. 1-7
13. NIPSCO - Feed-In Tariff
14. Indianapolis Power & Light - Rate REP
15. Solar Energy
16. "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
17. Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
18. Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 20. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
19. Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
20. Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
21. Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
22. Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-09-26.
23. Indiana Solar
24. "Electricity Data Browser". U.S. Department of Energy. March 28, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2021.

External links

• Incentives and policies
• Indiana Renewable Energy Society