Restoring the Environment through Clean Energy

A look at Logansport Solar and its unique benefits to the community

As years pass and seasons change, it’s becoming clear that renewable resources not only are the future, but ultimately, they’re the determining factor of what our future holds. The solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) program plays an instrumental role in propelling the U.S. forward toward a brighter, more sustainable environment and economy. By developing clean power sources like solar farms, we have the opportunity to provide a better world to live in for generations to come. Alchemy Renewable Energy, a portfolio company of Monarch Private Capital, is committed to creating a more sustainable future by facilitating all stages of development and operations of solar farms across the U.S.

To fulfill this commitment, Alchemy partnered with Inovateus Solar on an 80-acre 16-megawatt-AC solar installation in Logansport, Indiana, by arranging the financing. As the city’s first-ever solar power plant, it will replace the recently retired coal-fired power plant that the area has relied on for 132 years. This new solar installation will benefit the community and neighboring areas in a variety of ways, including reducing Logansport Municipal Utility’s (LMU) carbon emissions, helping stabilize energy costs for LMU’s customers, and even host a bee and butterfly habitat that will benefit agriculture in the surrounding areas.

Environmental Impact

Based on an estimated lifespan of 40 years, the project is projected to abate 689,558 MT CO2e, which is equivalent to:

• 88 billion smartphones charged
• 78 million gallons of gasoline consumed, and
• 149,000 passenger cars driven on the road for a year.

Social Impact

The positive impact doesn’t stop there, however. Inovateus is further helping the community by designing a solar education program to engage schools in the Logansport Community School Corporation, and they are launching a college scholarship contest for naming the solar park. To help maintain the neighborhood around the solar park, Inovateus designed a 45-foot vegetation buffer around the solar array. The buffer will feature native Northern Indiana trees, plants, and more than 100 tulip trees donated by the community.

Bird & Pollinator-Friendly Solar Day

After construction is completed in the first quarter of 2021, Inovateus has partnered with Fresh Energy and the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund to plant a pollinator seed mix under and around the solar panels instead of traditional ground cover. Planting a pollinator mix will cultivate honeybees and butterflies that local farmers rely on for pollinating their crops. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s InSPIRE study is actively studying pollinator-friendly and low-impact solar development approaches to quantify the ecosystem and agricultural benefits. To commemorate the pollinator-friendly ground cover that will eventually be planted under the solar array, The City of Logansport will recognize June 26th as Bird & Pollinator-Friendly Solar Day. 

The benefits of solar energy are extensive, positively impacting communities environmentally, socially and economically. Clean energy will create a better future, and it is crucial that we pave a better road ahead so that today’s youth can be strong, healthy and effective voices of tomorrow.

About the Developer

Inovateus Solar is a leading solar and energy storage development, EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) and supply company in the Midwest United States. Headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, the company has 453 MW of utility, commercial, industrial, and education sector solar PV projects built and under development in the U.S. and the Caribbean. With strong roots in the communities it serves, Inovateus is passionately committed to investing in the energy future of clients through the wide-scale deployment of solar and clean energy technologies.