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Electric providers look to remain adaptive in changing environment
BAINBRIDGE — “Wind and solar are the answer.”
“Traditional fossil fuels are still the answer.”
“There is no good answer.”
There are a lot of opinions floating around about the present and future of power generation in this country — many styling themselves as definitive.
But sit down and talk to someone from a power provider, and the answers become a bit more nuanced, less black and white.
Local business and civic leaders had such an opportunity on Friday at the Bainbridge Community Center during the annual luncheon of the Greencastle Putnam County Development Center, as the keynote address was actually a roundtable with representatives from Duke Energy, Hendricks Power Cooperative, Parke County REMC and the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, the four providers that serve homes and business in Putnam County.
The four speakers — Duke Economic Development Manager Haley Thompson, Hendricks Power CEO Greg Ternet, Parke County REMC CEO/General Manager Chad Jenkins and IMPA Economic Development Specialist Victor Ross-Frost — all lauded ongoing development of new, renewable technology while also noting that the technology remains in a transitional period.
All four noted that solar sources — utilizing technology similar to a proposed solar farm in Russell Township — are now part of their power portfolio.
For example in Bainbridge, Putnam County’s community served by IMPA, there has been a solar park online since 2015. This park provides about 275 kilowatt-hours per day. While this amount matters, it is not enough to power the town.
Ross-Frost said there 41 such parks across IMPA’s 61 member communities.
Both Parke REMC and Duke have tried to take steps to incentivize individual members/customers to purchase from renewable sources.
Jenkins noted that Parke REMC has a solar park in the Lake Holiday area, with members able to “subscribe” to the renewable source, which means the REMC must then utilize that level of power from the solar park.
Likewise, Tomlinson noted that Duke has introduced solar leasing programs to its programs in the Carolinas, with the idea of implementing the same program in Indiana.
Ternet said Hendricks Power is working on a 60-acre, seven-megawatt plan that would power about 1,000 homes. He warned there is still work to be done on developing such technology, though.
“Until we get to a place that we have better battery storage, we are going to have to use those other sources,” Ternet said.
Though not proposed as any sort of magic bullet, the proposed Russellville solar park would cover 2,300 acres and provide an estimated 200 megawatts.
“Are electric cars the answer?” Development Center Director and discussion moderator Kristin Clary asked later in the discussion.
Such technology, the speakers noted again, is important, but not the end-all, be-all in the search for cleaner energy.
For one thing, there is not a lot of charging capability in this area.
Jenkins noted that Parke REMC purchased a Tesla that he drives “to answer questions” from consumers about electric vehicles.
He noted that such cars help route drivers on the most efficient routes as well as routing them past known charging stations.
This, however, comes with limitations.
“There are zero chargers in Parke County. Zero,” Jenkins, who lives and works in Rockville said. “You’re going to charge 80-90 percent of the time at home.”
Tomlinson noted that Duke is moving toward electrifying its fleet, but developments in technology could make such plans subject to change.
“We don’t have a crystal ball.”
Ternet noted that, much like wind and solar power, there still need to be upgrades in technology before large swaths of the population move to electric vehicles.
“I’m not going to sit here and say electric cars are the answer,” Ternet said. “Technology is just not where we need it to be.”
He noted that plans are coming together to have Level 3 (fast) charging station installed along highways, but only interstates at this time, which would limit their use on the average West Central Indiana commute.
In other places, there could be talks of Level 2 (medium speed) charging stations installed by private entities.
“My view is, I think we’re in the infancy of it,” Ternet said. “We’re all going to have to work together on it.”
Addressing whether it would be wise to invest in a charging station as a business opportunity, Ross-Frost said to weigh the benefits.
“It’s greatly important to think of the cost and return on investment,” she said.
Returning to the theme of charging at home, Jenkins said that Parke REMC is willing to work with customers who purchase electric cars to have them consider the best time to charge a vehicle so as to place the least strain on the power grid.
“Let us talk to you about it and let us educate you on when is the right time and wrong time to charge,” he said.
Across the board, though, the four speakers all said it will be a waiting game to see if electric cars are the wave of the future.
“I think in terms of whether we did the right thing or wrong thing (to buy an electric car) — we’ll know in about five years,” Jenkins said.
In the business portion of the Development Center meeting, the board kept the same slate of officers for the current year — Michael Clampitt of North Salem State Bank as president, Carrie Thompson of Crown Equipment as vice president and Laura Elsbrock of Area 30 Career Center as secretary/treasurer.
Meanwhile, six members with terms set to expire were reappointed to the board — Thompson, Melissa Ensor of Endeavor Communications, Chase Haltom of First National Bank, Mike Smith of Work One, Mike Teso of Liberty Industries and Steve Fouty of DePauw University.