Facing delay, solar companies pitch impact on neighbors of Tippecanoe Co.'s first project as ‘a nonevent’

Two companies behind 1,700-acre Rainbow Trout Solar Project in western Tippecanoe County start second effort to make their case ahead of vote now scheduled for late August

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FACING DELAY, SOLAR COMPANIES PITCH IMPACT ON NEIGHBORS OF TIPPECANOE COUNTY'S FIRST LARGE-SCALE PROJECT AS ‘A NONEVENT’

In the first face-to-face with the public since a two-month delay was announced last week in their zoning request, Geenex and RWE Clean Energy – the companies behind a proposed 120-megawatt solar project on 1,700 acres in western Tippecanoe County – continued to try to make a case Monday that what they’re bringing is the right project in the right spot.

“We know we’re not going to win everyone over,” Mike Rinebold, director of governmental affairs for Geenex, said during an early afternoon open house Monday at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association’s center in downtown Lafayette.

“The best we can do for them is consistently have events like these, have our local team be available to answer questions,” Rinebold said. “Everyone’s going to have their own opinion. But we want to make sure that we answer their questions.”

Company officials explained parts of the Rainbow Trout Solar Project during an open house Monday in downtown Lafayette. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Monday afternoon, Chuck Greene, who lives near West Point, several miles south of the proposed project, swung through just long enough to scan a couple of the poster board presentations set up before he was ready to take off, skipping any one-on-one conversations about what Geenex and RWE are calling the Rainbow Trout Solar Project.

“Nobody out there’s going to go for this,” Greene said. “You’re taking some of the best farmland Indiana has, that’s what I don’t get.”

The pushback from residents who live nearby has been growing since Geenex and RWE Clean Energy filed for the special exception in May for a project that covers miles of land from just north of Division Road to Jackson Highway in Montmorenci.