(Credit: Pixabay)Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) and the Clean Energy Infrastructure (CEI) business of Capital Dynamics, a global private asset management firm, signed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for 280MW of the power generated by a CEI-owned greenfield solar project called Gibson Solar.
Gibson Solar is one of two projects being developed by CEI in Gibson County, Indiana. Arevon Energy Management and Tenaska are co-developing this project.
Eight renewable energy projects have previously been announced by NIPSCO, which include a combination of similar purchase power agreements and joint ventures, as part of its customer-centric "Your Energy, Your Future" generation transition plan. The company plans to be coal-free by 2028, adding a combination of cleaner energy sources to its existing portfolio of natural gas and hydroelectric generation.
NIPSCO will request the addition of these new projects to its supply portfolio in filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The company expects to announce additional renewable projects in the coming months.
The Gibson Solar project is one of 19 projects that Capital Dynamics acquired from Tenaska in November 2018 and April 2019, and is located on approximately 2,400 acres in southern Indiana. The project is currently in the development stage with construction expected to start in 2022, and commercial operation anticipated in 2023.
Capital Dynamics has been actively involved in funding renewable energy projects. In 2019, Johnson Controls announced a partnership with investment firm to increase the amount of capital available for customers in North America working on solar or battery storage projects. The agreement grants easier access to funding for Johnson Controls customers utilizing a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for projects of varying sizes, starting at $1 million, by aggregating them into a larger portfolio of projects.
