The Society is searching for a treasurer. It plans to remodel its bathroom. This year's Cemetery Walk is scheduled for September 21. There was mention of the controversy in Pulaski County concerning the fate of their Court House. It has not been maintained and the discussion is now whether to spend the money needed to correct the problems or to demolish it. The next Society meeting will be March 19 and the program will be Birding in Indiana.
I left before the meeting concluded to go to the Jasper County Council meeting that started at 7:00. The first item on the agenda was a request by Orion Renewable Energy Group to have a large portion of
The Orion spokesman explained that NIPSCO is currently currently focused on lining up wind energy because the tax credits for wind energy production will soon be ending. (I tried to find more and the best I could find was here. Both wind and solar get significant tax credits and if the credits are bigger than the tax owed, the tax credits can be sold to other businesses.) When NIPSCO turns its attention to contracting for solar energy, it will start with projects that are shovel-ready, that is, have all the permits and regulatory approval in hand.
The proposed project would be for a solar farm with a capacity of 265 megawatts. That amount is the spare capacity of the transmission lines at the location. (Rensselaer's new solar park has a capacity of 4 to 5 megawatts.) The cost of the facility, if completely built out, would be about $300 million dollars. Each megawatt of capacity requires about eight acres of land so the proposed facility would occupy about 2000-2200 acres, about 30-35% of the area outlined in the map above. They have contracted for some of the land they want but there are still some contracts that have not been signed. Twenty to thirty landowners will be involved. The panels will have single-axis rotation like those in the new Rensselaer solar farm. Orion may add some battery capacity. Currently the efficiency of batteries is increasing faster than the efficiency of solar panels which is increasing faster than the efficiency of wind turbines. Construction will not start until the project has a signed contract for power purchase. Once construction starts, the project should be ready to generate power in about six months.
Orion had contracted with Umbaugh to develop scenarios for the tax abatement. Most tax-abatement plans run for ten years and are sliding-scale. In the first year the abatement is 100%, so the company pays no property tax. Each year it drops by 10%, so in year two the tax paid is 10% of what it would be without the abatement, in year three it is 20%, etc. As time goes on, the company depreciates the investment so that the assessed valuation will also fall. However, utility property has special rules and the value of the property for tax purposes cannot fall below 30% of its initial value. The Council members were given the numbers showing how a conventional abatement would benefit the company and how much it would pay in taxes for each year (I think for a fifty year project life, but I may be wrong on that). One of the items common in abatements for renewable energy projects is a payment by the company to the county for economic development, which reduces the benefit to the company and gives the county additional revenue. In an alternative scenario the tax abatement would be 100% for ten years but the company would pay a much greater amount back as an economic development fee. The Council members were urged to study the numbers over the next month.
Andree moved and Jordan seconded a motion to establish the ERA. The motion passed with DeVries casting the negative vote. Next month passing a tax abatement will probably be on the agenda.
(On the agenda for this month's Plan Commission is a solar farm ordinance. Orion's plans may spur quick action.)
Next up was Stephen Eastridge from Jasper County Economic Development Organization. He noted that the second meeting of the NIPSCO task force will be Monday at 7:00 pm at the Fase Center. County Assessor Dawn Hoffman will discuss the property tax implications of the closure of the Schahfer plant.
He then turned his attention to tax abatement policy and suggested that the Council could designate ERAs for areas where it wanted investment and thus negate the need for the sort of resolution that they had just passed. No immediate action was taken on the suggestion. Mr Eastridge announced that the Jasper and Newton County economic development offices had cooperated on a proposal to have one of the state development meetings held at Fair Oaks Farms and it had been accepted. Someone noted that sometime later this year Fair Oaks will host a manure convention that will attract about 2000 attendees.
The remainder of the meeting was occupied with items lacking public interest. The Coroner continued discussion of per diem pay. There were additional appropriates for Animal Control, Community Corrections, and the Sheriff and a transfer for the Highway Department. The meeting adjourned two hours and twenty minutes after it began.
The Rensselaer Republican is reporting that the KV School Corporation will be leasing land to construct a small solar facility.
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