Energy Tour Highlights Green Projects In Rural Indiana

On Thursday, a group of national and local leaders hopped on a bus for a tour of renewable energy projects in rural parts of Indiana.  

Greg Wagner, vice president of business development for Wabash Valley Power, starts off the day with a tour of a small block building located across the street from a Danville landfill. 

"We pride ourselves on the block building, there is some noise but it's manageable," says Wagner. "The community doesn't even know we're here half the time and the power goes right out on the distribution lines, right out in front of the building."

The small footprint facility, which was opened in 2012, takes methane gas from the dump and turns it into electricity, providing enough juice to power around 2,000 local homes.  

The stop at Twin Bridges was one of five sites picked for the tour that highlighted Indiana’s investment in homegrown energy sources.  The group also visited a community solar project and farms operating on energy provided by methane digesters. 

Retired Air Force Gen. Donald Hoffman was on the tour.  He is on a military advisory board studying critical national security issues including America’s dependence on foreign oil. 

"It limits our diplomatic influence when we have to consider the energy impact of our position with some of these countries that are providers, they're not all our friends," says Hoffman   

Although Indiana is making strides in developing renewable energy opportunities,  coal fired electric power plants still provided 84 percent of the state's net electricity generation last year.

A recent USDA grant will help support 13 new energy projects in rural Indiana.