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]
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]
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] The first 400 MW phase was completed in July 2024.[11]
The Government of Indiana has taken a variety of actions in order to encourage solar energy use within the state.
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.[12] Peak summer demand for the state for 2011 was 20,251 MW.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
The Indiana Office of Energy Development has created the Indiana Solar Energy Working Group to promote the development of solar energy, including local manufacturing.[16]
DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:6TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:month increment:1 start:0 TextData = pos:(15,220) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:hrs pos:(205,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S text:Month pos:(90,230) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:Indianapolis Sun Hours/day (Avg = 4.62 hrs/day) Colors = id:yellow value:yellow PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black bar:Jan color:yellow from:0 till:3.18 text:3.18 shift:(-10,50) bar:Feb color:yellow from:0 till:4.14 text:4.14 shift:(-10,55) bar:Mar color:yellow from:0 till:4.44 text:4.44 shift:(-10,60) bar:Apr color:yellow from:0 till:5.15 text:5.15 shift:(-10,70) bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.73 text:5.73 shift:(-10,75) bar:Jun color:yellow from:0 till:5.84 text:5.84 shift:(-10,80) bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:5.92 text:5.92 shift:(-10,80) bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:5.67 text:5.67 shift:(-10,75) bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:5.20 text:5.20 shift:(-10,70) bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:4.70 text:4.70 shift:(-10,65) bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:3.07 text:3.07 shift:(-10,45) bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:2.37 text:2.37 shift:(-10,40) Source: NREL[17] |
| 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 | % |
| 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 |