NIPSCO signs solar energy power agreement

Archive context: This report preserves an announcement published in 2020. Project schedules, company plans and projections described below reflected information available at that time and may have changed.

Northern Indiana Public Service Company and the Clean Energy Infrastructure business of Capital Dynamics signed a long-term power purchase agreement, NIPSCO announced.

Under the agreement, NIPSCO was to purchase 280 megawatts of power generated by a Capital Dynamics-owned greenfield solar project named Gibson Solar. The project was being developed in Gibson County, Indiana. Arevon Energy Management and Tenaska were co-developing the project and helped complete the agreement.

NIPSCO described the Indiana solar project as another step in its gradual transition toward lower-cost, cleaner energy for customers.

Capital Dynamics was identified in the announcement as an independent global private-asset management firm.

NIPSCO had previously announced eight other renewable-energy projects. Those projects included a combination of power purchase agreements and joint ventures under its generation transition plan.

At the time of publication, the company said it planned to become coal-free by 2028 by adding cleaner energy resources to its existing natural-gas and hydroelectric generation portfolio. It projected that the transition would create a more affordable, reliable and sustainable energy mix and save customers $4 billion over the long term.

NIPSCO said it would request the addition of the new projects to its supply portfolio through filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Gibson Solar was one of 19 projects Capital Dynamics acquired from Tenaska in November 2018 and April 2019. The announcement described the project as occupying approximately 2,400 acres in southern Indiana. It was then in development, with construction anticipated to begin in 2022 and commercial operation expected in 2023.

Capital Dynamics characterized Gibson Solar as one of the largest solar projects east of the Mississippi River and as an important contributor to Indiana’s ongoing energy transition.