Utility-scale solar projects make significant investments in local communities. Over the life of a typical project, it will generate tens of millions of dollars in stable, long-term tax revenue that go directly to the county budgets. The increased funding is used on local schools and other critical services, such as police and fire. This investment and revenue generation amounts to a significant addition to the tax base, which helps stabilize and/or lower tax rates. Local businesses in related or supportive industries also see influxes of indirect benefits from labor, services, and material supply before, during and after construction. Furthermore, renewable energy, including solar, is in high demand by utilities and businesses, and can help attract new companies to move in with more investment and job opportunities to areas where energy is available.

Indiana’s economy is rapidly transforming, as new industries and businesses increasingly call the Hoosier State home. The growth is putting a spotlight on Indiana’s energy grid, and officials are warning about critical shortfalls and potential blackouts if new energy projects aren’t brought online. 

Learn about the importance of Indiana solar to filling the state’s energy supply gaps and meeting its growing demand – Why Solar Is So Important To Indiana’s Energy Future.

Solar projects are safe. They produce no air pollution, no water pollution, and no chemical emissions. 

Furthermore, over time, solar farms offer significant improvements to local water quality, compared to active row crops. Native grass ground cover that is planted on solar farms is beneficial for the soil in the long term and creates less erosion and reduced use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. 

Learn more – Solar Energy: Safe, Reliable, Environmentally Friendly

Solar projects provide farmers and landowners with stable revenue, which allows them to diversify their income, supports continued agricultural operations, and prevents other permanent uses of the land such as residential and clustered development. 

Solar project leases offer consistency and assurances the typical agricultural farmer doesn’t see very often. The lease generates long-term, dependable income and allows the landowner to retain ownership of their family farm for future generations. In many cases, the lease payments are higher than the typical crop lease, may provide an opportunity to purchase additional land to actively work, and the stability of the lease payments guards against the volatility of the agricultural market they might experience on other parcels they continue to farm.

Utility-scale solar is an important part of the energy mix. Indiana consumes about four times more energy than the state produces. We not only need more power supply, but a more diverse energy grid is a more reliable energy grid. 

Solar energy is inevitably variable by nature since it depends on the availability of sunlight. For example, output can vary during the day due to weather conditions, and electricity cannot be produced at night. Supply and demand needs to be matched on the electricity grid, and other sources of electricity are used when solar energy is not available or limited. For example, at times of peak sun and solar generation, solar plants can produce at their maximum while other generation sources are ramped down. 

Solar energy actually creates increased predictability and reliability for grid operators. They know when the sun will set, but they don’t know when factors impacting fossil fuel resources will occur — for example, when a critical component at a gas plant breaks, or when a global crisis reduces fossil fuel supplies.