The 53-acre project near Anderson Municipal Airport is among several being developed by the Indiana Municipal Power Agency in communities where it provides electricity.
Notre Dame President John Jenkins plans to announce Monday that the university will spend $113 million on renewable energy sources, including a hydroelectric project, solar power and geothermal fields.
In 2002, less than 2 percent of the state’s energy use came from renewable resources. By 2012, the last year for which objective statistics are available, the rate increased to more than 5 percent.
Airport officials have agreed to lease about 76 acres of land at the airport to the same private developers who created the current, 44,000-panel field by the Interstate 70 exit.
Indiana Municipal Power Agency said the 8-acre solar farm on the grounds of Richmond Power and Light contains about 4,000 solar panels. They will generate enough electricity to power about 200 homes.
Indiana Michigan Power is proposing the facilities in the Muncie-Marion area in eastern Indiana, around South Bend in northern Indiana and in Michigan.
The nation's largest solar farm built on a federal Superfund site is now generating power in Indianapolis on property once tainted by a long-closed plant's wood-treating operations.