Last Updated on November 28, 2019 by City of Logansport – Mayor's Office
Logansport’s first solar power project has been formally approved.
A proposal by Innovateus to build a solar field on land at the city limits west of Logansport was approved unanimously by the Logansport Utility Service Board at its final 2019 meeting Tuesday night.
Originally proposed as the largest solar project in Indiana, the scaled down version of the project will provide solar power within the Logansport Municipal Utilities’ grid for a 30-year period. LMU also will have an option of extending the agreement, and will have an option to take over the project if Innovateus is no longer in business. The field installation will be coordinated to feed the LMU grid through a substation on the northwest side.
Mayor Dave Kitchell credited City Council President Dave Morris, the Solar Committee and the USB for their patience and continued support of the project along with Utilities Manager Paul Hartman and Distribution Manager Bob Dunderman.
“This represents the kind of project that can happen when LMU and the civil city work together,” Mayor Kitchell said. “While this is the first solar project for our city, I don’t think it will be the last.”
The existing Purchased Power Agreement (PPA) with Next Era permits Logansport and LMU to purchase a portion of its power through solar sources. There is remaining capacity available for additional solar, and city officials met with another solar firm representative Tuesday to address the future development of a solar field at the Trelleborg site at One General St. The city currently owns the property, which was originally General Tire. The solar developer is proposing nine homes for a subdivision approved along the border of the Trelleborg property, but the city is working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to resolve environmental issues on another portion of the property.
Mayor Dave Kitchell and Innovateus have been working with qualifying local lenders who can participate in financing the solar field project which involves the federal renewable energy tax credit.
SOURCE: News release from the Office of Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell