Solar batteries from China are currently in a Georgia transit port, but work at a Richmond solar park prepares for their arrival in the city.
The Indiana Municipal Power Agency, to which Richmond Power & Light belongs, selected the Richmond 6 solar park at South 23rd Street and Wernle Road for its initial foray into using battery storage technology. The $6.75 million project will install 6 megawatts of storage, according to RP&L General Manager Tony Foster during an update at the Sept. 2 RP&L board meeting. Members of Richmond Common Council comprise the RP&L board.
Foster said a tariff President Donald Trump planned almost derailed the project, but the tariff’s delayed implementation convinced IMPA to proceed with the project. Workers are readying the Richmond 6 location for arrival of the batteries from Savannah, Georgia, expected the week of Sept. 22. The batteries will be commissioned during December.
IMPA’s original plan was to install a half-megawatt of storage for $1 million, Foster said; however, costs have decreased and IMPA boosted the planned storage capability. The battery stores energy during low-demand times and discharges energy during peak demand, when RP&L pays IMPA higher rates for energy produced elsewhere.
All of the solar energy produced by Richmond’s eight solar parks, which can produce 45 megawatts during sunshine, and from the battery storage is placed directly into Richmond’s electrical grid. Solar typically provides 37.5% of the city’s average 120-megawatt power demand; however, Foster said that on Labor Day, when moderate temperatures reduced reliance on air conditioning, solar-generated power satisfied half of customers’ power demands.
Foster also highlighted projects RP&L crews have undertaken, including replacement of a high-line pole on Round Barn Road, installation of service for the Wawa gas station on Williamsburg Pike, system changes for the new Chick-fil-A on National Road East and installation of a transformer and lighting conduit at the Test Road trail head.
ECA rates
RP&L’s residential energy cost adjustment will drop $0.001201 per kilowatt hour for the fourth quarter. The ECA enables the utility to adapt for how much it’s paying IMPA for power.
Overall, the ECA has an average increase of $0.000203 per kilowatt hour across all of its rate classifications; however, the residential ECA will be $0.010174 — just more than a penny — per kilowatt hour. The residential ECA had risen the previous two quarters and will now be the lowest it’s been during 2024 and 2025.
The board unanimously approved the ECA rates.
A version of this article appeared in the September 10 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.