Indianapolis Motor Speedway goes solar

• The farm includes 39,314 solar panels, which together are 2.5 times the area of the speedway track.
• Much of the solar power development in Indiana has been concentrated in the past two years.
• The solar farm allows the speedway to sell power to Indianapolis Power and Light and earn tax credits on construction costs.

What was once an empty lot used occasionally for storage by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is now a solar farm large enough to power 2,700 homes.

The farm, located less than a mile away from the track on West 21st Street, has a capacity of 9 megawatts, making it the largest solar farm at any sporting facility in the world, said Kevin Forbes, engineering and construction director for the speedway.

Officially opened Tuesday by officials from the speedway and the companies that helped build and maintain the 39,314 solar panels, the farm joins a growing number of sites producing solar power in Indiana.

Recent years have seen an increase in solar energy in Indiana, spurred by state tax credits and incentives from utilities like Indianapolis Power and Light Co., which partnered with the speedway on its farm.

"A lot of people, when they think of green, they think of Colorado or Northern California," Forbes said. "They don't really think of the Midwest."

The state produces 93.6 megawatts of solar energy, said Tristan Vance, director of the Indiana Office of Energy Development. That's roughly enough energy to power every home in Fishers, based on U.S. census data and the conversion formula used by the speedway.

"Pretty much all the solar installed in the state has been in the last few years," Vance said. "Solar is seeing a lot of growth as people look to adopt it and technology improves."

Project leaders at the speedway and the companies it partnered with to build the farm see it as an opportunity not only to put to use space that has in the past been vacant and overgrown but also as a way to bring the track into a new century.

"The track was developed as a way to test technology," President Doug Boles said. "We are on the front end of the next technology that's defining what this country is."

Maintenance and upkeep for the solar panels will be managed by SunWize and Blue Renewable Energy, the two other companies that partnered with the speedway. The energy generated by the solar panels will be sent directly into the IPL grid through a purchase agreement with the speedway.

Officials were unwilling to release specific information about the cost of the project, but SunWize CEO Scott Tonn said it was on par with other solar developments of this scale, generally around $20 million.

Call Star reporter Michael Auslen at (317) 444-6077. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAuslen.