St. Joseph Solar Farm begins operations with nearly 58,000 panels

GRANGER, Ind. — The future of renewable energy in Indiana has a new cornerstone. The St. Joseph Solar Farm is officially online.

While it may be dreary outside, the outlook for this area is bright for these nearly 58,000 solar panels. The panels stretch far enough to cover 30 football fields. Drone 22 shows just how extensive this new solar farm is.

It’s located near the Indiana Toll Road and Bittersweet Road. This time, the bigger is the better option.

"The larger you can build something, the lower the cost overall, so this is why you see us getting bigger and bigger with each of these facilities as time goes on," said Indiana Michigan Power President Toby Thomas.

Producing 20 megawatts an hour, this farm will create more renewable energy than I&M’s other four solar farms combined. It’ll be enough to power 2,700 homes and help the environment.

"When you hear it’s gonna save 13,000 tons of CO2, what that really means to me is it’s like taking 2,600 cars off the road," said Thomas.

It’s a mission Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch says will be the standard going forward.

"Have energy that powers our homes, but that is also safe for the environment. And allows us to leave perhaps the state and our world a little better for future generations," said Lt. Gov. Crouch.

Partnering with Notre Dame, 40% of the energy will help power the campus.

"It goes along with a number of other projects that we’ve done on campus and continue to reduce carbon, whether it’s the hydroelectric project we are working on in downtown South Bend, our geothermal projects, energy conservation and moving away from coal to natural gas," said Notre Dame Utilities and Maintenance Assistant VP Paul Kempf.

The combination, he says, will better reach the university’s goals.

"It’s a puzzle. Putting together all these pieces that work together to get us to where we want to go-- eventually being carbon neutral."

This project won’t just save money, but hopefully bring in more.

"A lot of businesses want to know that you have renewable energy in and around the area. This is the start to that," said Thomas.

Projected to last 35 years, "Renewable energy is here, it’s cost-effective, it’s going to be a key part of our resources that we use to serve customers basically from now for all time."

Even with today’s weather, the panels are producing energy and they will rotate depending on which direction will harness the sun best.