Sunny days help 24 Richmond Power & Light customers generate their own electricity.
Seventeen customers operate solar systems that generate less than 10 kilowatts, while seven more operate larger systems. RP&L General Manager Tony Foster provided the utility’s board, which is composed of Richmond Common Council members, with a solar update during an Aug. 3 meeting.
The 17 smaller solar systems, including three installed during 2025, generated 48,604 kilowatt-hours during 2025, accounting for about 20% of those customers’ power use. The seven larger systems generated 151,215 kilowatt hours, accounting for 73% of those customers’ power use. The total 199,819 kilowatt hours generated accounts for 0.02% of RP&L’s overall 2025 power demand.
Foster said balcony solar systems that are popular in Europe are working through testing and certification in the United States. The small systems feed electricity by plugging directly into an outlet.
RP&L’s wholesale electricity supplier, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, also operates eight solar parks in Richmond that feed directly into RP&L’s substations. The eight parks generated 75,915,478 kilowatt-hours during 2025, accounting for about 8.5% of the nearly 900 million kilowatt-hours RP&L customers used.
IMPA also operates the Whitewater Valley Station at RP&L’s U.S. 27 headquarters and two combustion gas turbines on Gates Road. IMPA provides power generated by solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas and coal.
Equipment bids
Foster opened bids from three companies to provide RP&L with an all-terrain track loader and trailer. RP&L plans to trade a 2015 model and trailer.
New Holland of Richmond bid $76,475 after trade-in, and Koenig Equipment of Richmond bid $73,800 after trade. Foster needed to check if those bids included the trailer. Bobcat of Anderson bid with three track loader models and a trailer. The track loader bids were $59,600, $58,600 and $58,600 after trade, and the trailer bid was $17,000 after trade.
Foster will evaluate the bids for compliance with bid specifications before providing the board a recommendation.
The board also authorized Foster to receive bids for a 2026 compact pickup truck that the engineering department would use.
A version of this article appeared in the August 12 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
