The Utility Service Board on Monday night heard a presentation from the Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA) regarding a proposed solar park site in Frankfort.
“They’ve approached us about putting a solar panel farm on the ground that is associated with the water treatment plant and the well fields,” said USB Chairman Mike Kelley. “It could turn out to be a win-win situation. The power would be distributed within the local grid.”
IMPA Project Manager Emily Williams, who oversees these types of projects for the agency, said this would become the biggest site to date in the state, if it is built. The proposed project would be for 9.74 megawatts which would exceed the one currently being built in Richmond. Williams added there are 17 facilities such as the one proposed throughout the state not including three under construction in Richmond, Rensselaer and Advance.
Williams also said the site would be built on 63 acres and would take eight to nine months to construct with construction beginning in the fourth quarter of 2019.
“There’s still some questions we are trying to get answers for about further expansion of the wells, how does it work in that, who’s responsible for this and who’s responsible for that,” said Kelley. “Hopefully by our next meeting we’ll have more information. We may be making a decision fairly quickly.”
Williams also said there would be a 50-year lease investment and then two renewal leases of 10 years each after that.
No cost for the project was discussed and Williams said that would not be done until more information was available.
In other news, the USB voted unanimously to approve a contract with Wessler Engineering on the initial phase of the wastewater expansion project.
“This is really the first big step after the approval of the council,” said Kelley. “It sets about the costs for their engineering studies, gets them started on the drawings and gets all the preliminary stuff done so we can get the project underway. I believe it’s going to be a three-year project before it’s completed.”
Kelley said the project cost for this phase was $1.697 million for bidding and design and then another $990,000 for construction oversight.