Opportunity Zones Targeted for Renewable Energy Projects
(photo courtesy of Solar United Neighbors)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSouth Bend-based Hoosier Solar Holdings LLC has announced plans to develop multiple solar and battery storage projects across many of Indiana’s Qualified Opportunity Zones. The company says the projects will collectively have the potential to generate more than 1,600 megawatts of power that could power 285,000 homes.
Indiana has 156 Opportunity Zones across 58 counties. The Opportunity Zone designation allows for federal capital gains tax advantages to “attract investments in economically distressed urban and rural communities.”
“Indiana has remarkable resources for solar power,” said Carl Weatherley-White, chief executive officer of Hoosier Solar. “With deep agricultural roots, Hoosiers want to preserve productive land for multiple generations, and solar projects provide farmers with long-term, steady income that is neither seasonal nor dependent on weather or crop pricing. During the period that the land is not actively farmed, it can regenerate for future generations.”
Hoosier Solar says the projects are currently in active development and many of them are expected to be operational by 2023. The company has tapped Inovateus Solar, also based in South Bend, to handle engineering, procurement and construction of the projects.
The company says it plans to use an Indiana-based workforce, as well as finished equipment and raw materials from Indiana-based suppliers for the projects.