Indiana & Michigan Power has said the facility will attract new businesses looking for renewable energy options to the Granger area, which is just northeast of South Bend.

Purdue researchers are investigating the viability of solar power production on farmland, hoping their work in "aglectric" engineering will balance food and energy production.

Other schools in the state, such as the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, have their own solar projects already underway.

Brooklyn, New York-based Ranger Power to build the solar project in Shelby County starting in 2022.

Last week, the IRS said that if solar developers invest 5 percent of the total cost of the project by the end of 2019 and finish it by 2023, they can get a 30 percent tax credit.

The solar panels power all of the outdoor lighting and half of the education center.

The university purchased about 130 bicycles from a San Francisco-based company. They can be rented for 50 cents every half hour by using a phone app.

The recently installed ground-mount solar arrays feed into the NIPSCO power grid.

The state's new net metering policy means future solar customers will receive less money when they sell excess energy they produce back to the power grid. That lower return could put solar out of reach for school districts.

The University of Notre Dame unveiled a new array of solar panels Wednesday that will drop carbon emissions at the school by 148 tons a year, or the equivalent of planting 31 acres of trees.