The Challenge
For a decade, the City of Kokomo, Indiana tried to attract new industrial companies and manufacturers to a brownfield and superfund site. The land formerly held an industrial steel manufacturing plant owned by Continental Steel, which closed the plant in 1986. The City of Kokomo took over and with the cooperation and grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, they decided to redevelop part of the brownfield into a solar farm.
Our Solar SOlution
With the support from Duke Energy, the City of Kokomo, IDEM, the EPA, Alterra Power, and 1st Source Bank, Inovateus Solar turned a brownfield into a brightfield by designing and developing a 7.2-MWdc solar array on 26 acres of the former brownfield land. Inovateus ensured that the solar installation would not disturb the capped brownfield’s soil cap by working with the U.S. EPA to design an above-ground, ballasted racking foundation for the fixed-tilt solar racking system. The ballasts ensured that the soil cap would not be penetrated by a typical racking foundation and also ensured that the solar racking’s piles could be removed at the project’s decommissioning in 30 years.
The Result
In addition to converting unused brownfield site into a productive solar array for the City of Kokomo, the City also receives revenue from the facility’s annual lease agreement and saves money in reduced maintenance costs as well. The EPA also expects that property values around the former unused superfund site will be positively affected by the completed solar and the other redevelopment projects. Hailed as a model for how to convert a brownfield into a solar brightfield, the project was awarded EPA Region 5 RENEW Award in recognition of excellence in site reuse.
