Hoosier Energy's power supply portfolio includes clean renewable energy from landfill methane, coalbed methane, wind turbines and hydropower.
Hoosier Energy adopted a Renewable Energy Policy in 2006, establishing goals to increase the share of renewable energy in its power supply portfolio. Although the U.S. and Indiana have no laws requiring utilities to have renewable energy programs, the generation and transmission co-op has committed to increasing its renewable energy portfolio by five percent of annual growth.
In meeting these goals, Hoosier Energy has implemented several initiatives. Renewable energy programs are in place to evaluate the feasibility of small-scale wind and solar energy generation in Indiana. As well, Hoosier Energy provides assistance to member cooperatives developing renewable energy projects in their territories.
Hoosier Energy is a charter member of a National Renewables Cooperative, which looks for opportunities for co-ops to work together on renewable energy projects. Green energy is made available to member co-ops through the EnviroWatts® program.
The objectives of Hoosier Energy's Renewable Energy Policy are:
- Create diversity of power supply resources.
- Provide member co-ops with renewable energy to support consumer programs.
- Strengthen and reinforce Hoosier Energy's environmental stewardship initiatives.
- Improve economies of rural communities in central and southern Indiana.
Hoosier Energy produced power from coalbed methane at the Osprey Point Renewable Energy Station that opened in mid-2013 on the Merom Station grounds.
This site has now been decommissioned.
High-capacity landfill methane gas (LMG) contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gases by destroying methane and using the remaining gas to produce electricity. Landfill gas, which occurs naturally from decomposing waste, consists of about 50 percent methane, whose emissions are many times stronger than carbon dioxide and considered a contributing factor to global warming. LMG facilities capture the methane and use it to produce electricity instead of flaring the gas into the atmosphere. Hoosier Energy owns and operates two landfill methane gas facilities: the 15-megawatt Livingston plant located on Republic Industries’ 460-acre Livingston Landfill near Pontiac, Illinois, and the 16-megawatt Orchard Hills facility in Davis Junction, Illinois, about 20 miles south of Rockford, Illinois. Livingston began operations in 2013 and Orchard Hills came on line in September 2016. Renewable energy credits for the Livingston and Orchard Hills facilities are sold to third parties.
Hoosier Energy’s solar program consists of ten 1-megawatt solar arrays placed along highly visible roadways across member service territories. Collectively, the solar sites will provide approximately 20,000,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy annually for the 300,000 consumers served by Hoosier Energy’s 18-member distribution cooperatives. A key goal of the project is to learn how this variable energy resource integrates onto the grid and how solar might offset the need for other more costly energy resources during periods of high demand. Once collected, this information will help member distribution systems give advice to member consumers on the operational issues, costs and benefits of solar as a renewable energy resource.
What to know how much energy is being produced at the Henryville site? Visit Hoosier Energy's Renewable Energy page.
A 20-year purchased power agreement was finalized in 2012 for electricity produced by a 4-megawatt hydroelectric facility near Dayton, Illinois. The plant produces about 18,000 megawatt-hours annually, enough to power about 1,500 homes.
Wind power comes from several purchased power agreements. Projects include agreements for wind capacity from Story County, Iowa, the Rail Splitter Wind Farm in Illinois, and most recently an agreement to purchase wind power from the Meadow Lake V wind farm in Northwestern Indiana.