GLOBAL

Bellflower Solar

173MW of renewable energy near Indianapolis

Key numbers

173MWᴅᴄ

/152.5MWᴀᴄ of home-grown renewable energy

202,000 metric tons

carbon emissions abated each year for healthier air

26,800

equivalent U.S. homes powered

$30 million

in property taxes, benefitting local schools & public services

$169 million

private investment in energy infrastructure for Indiana's energy security and independence

Current status

Site Selection & Preliminary Design

Stakeholder outreach

Permitting & environmental studies

Land management & biodiversity planning

Final engineering, financing & construction

Operation & maintenance

Decommissioning & recycling

The 173MW Bellflower solar farm, located about 40 miles east of Indianapolis in Indiana’s Rush and Henry Counties, has entered full commercial operations. 

Lightsource bp developed, financed the solar farm with $169 million of private capital, and will continue to operate Bellflower Solar. Under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA), Verizon Communications will benefit from the clean energy of the project. The solar farm is expected to offset the equivalent of 202,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, improving air quality while furthering Verizon’s goal of being carbon neutral in its operations (scope 1 and 2) by 2035.

Bellflower Solar is helping reduce America’s foreign dependence and increase Indiana’s energy security with home-grown clean energy. Projects like Bellflower also help strengthen local rural economies. The Bellflower Solar project:

  • Is expected to generate $30 million in property tax revenue to Rush and Henry Counties over its life, benefitting local schools and other community public services.
  • Will have an annual operations budget of $2.4 million. primarily spent in the region.
  • Created hundreds of U.S. jobs across the supply chain, while supporting domestic manufacturers and low carbon products. More than 350 people worked on-site during peak construction to build the facility.

Sheep grazing under and around the solar panels at Bellflower. Solar grazing is a form of agrivoltaics

A bee buzzing around a flower at the Bellflower solar farm.

The Bellflower solar farm brings many environmental benefits to Indiana, in addition to improving air quality by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation. 

  • Lightsource bp planted 800 acres of land under and around the solar panels with vegetation that includes native species beneficial to pollinators and other wildlife, which will be conserved for decades. An additional 10 acres has been dedicated to lush pollinator gardens with more than 60 different types of flowering plants. 
  • The solar farm is participating in a research study which will measure the ecological benefits of pollinator habitat at utility- scale solar. The research team consists of the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 
  • Land under and around the solar panels is also being kept in agricultural production. A local commercial beekeeper is managing hives and will produce solar farm honey, while another local Indiana farmer is grazing sheep to help maintain the vegetation. 

Stories

Find out more about our Responsible Solar approach

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out more about this project, email USCommunityRelations@lightsourcebp.com or fill out the form below. We aim to get back to you within five working days.

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