Delaware County and its representatives have been working on a utility solar ordinance for far too many years. After so much time has been spent writing an ordinance, you’d think the final version of the ordinance could reach a compromise between businesses and county residents, but it has yet to do that.
In evaluating the impacts of the utility solar ordinance that the county commissioners are supposed to vote on at their Sept. 15 meeting, I hope they keep in mind four points: current economic issues affecting farmers, potential economic growth for the county, local job creation, and current and future energy production and consumption in the county.
If the county commissioners keep these points in mind, they will have to vote no on the utility solar ordinance that is anticipated to come before them in September.
Why do residents need to speak up? The only point influencing the county commissioners currently is coming from neighbors who live next to farmland sited be used for utility solar.
The main complaint is that neighbors don’t want to look at the solar panels. And commissioners seem to buy that argument.
Just because we don’t want to look at something is not how we should judge whether we move forward. Commissioners need to re-evaluate their positions. No one owns the view.
But let’s consider the four points I said commissioners should consider in evaluating the ordinance.
First, the utility solar ordinance is good for one of Delaware County’s biggest businesses: farming. Farmers will be hurt if there are no solar facilities on their farmland. Why? Utility solar can ensure farmers’ financial well-being and futures in Delaware County.
It is fair to say that with current federal farm and food aid policies that we haven’t seen the lowest price per bushel of corn and soybeans. The reason is that farmers produce crops at higher levels every year, and now they have fewer places to sell their crops, which means lower prices.
In addition to losing markets for their crops, the cost of borrowing money has led to an uptick of farms filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy, not seen since 2019. There have been 88 U.S. farm bankruptcy filings in the first quarter of 2025 alone, up from 45 in 2024.
Under these financial pressures, farmers are looking for ways to diversify farm revenue. And utility solar is the quickest way for farmers to diversify their agricultural business.
There also is evidence that when farmland comes up for sale in Delaware County, farmers here don’t have the added cash needed to pay top dollar for it. As a result, out-of-county and out-of-state farmers and investment companies buy the land and become absentee landowners. Family farms in Delaware County are staying the same size, shrinking or disappearing. Utility solar offers a way for farmers to hang on to the family farm for future generations.
Secondly, good-paying jobs, those that pay in the $25 to $35 range, are needed in Delaware County. Based on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Delaware County’s per capita personal income is $47,629 as of 2023. This is ranked 88th out of 92 counties in the state. We have at least 19.4% of our residents living in poverty. This places us as the third most impoverished county in the state.
The Delaware County Carpenters and Electrical unions have found good jobs working on solar projects in surrounding counties and states. Union workers want utility solar in Delaware County.
Third, solar companies have been banging on Delaware County’s front door offering new options for county revenue through property taxes and economic development agreements, as well as employment, since at least 2020. With the ordinance in its current form, which prevents development of utility solar, the county commissioners keep telling these companies to spend their money elsewhere.
Fourth, Indiana currently does not make enough energy to sustain itself. With dependence on electrical imports, coal and natural gas, Ben Inskeep of EQ Research stated that in 2025, Indiana has had the highest year-over-year jump in electric bills in two decades. Relying on electricity produced outside Indiana means increasing electric bills for Delaware County residents.
With state government welcoming the building of major data centers, which use enormous amounts of electricity, Indiana communities must find ways to generate more electricity.
Delaware County is at a crossroads. The compromise and solution to the difficult situation the county commissioners have put our county in is to allow the utility solar companies and farmers who signed contracts back in 2020 and 2021 under the county’s original ordinance. Farmers with contracts should be allowed to have utility solar built on their land now — not later or never.
Finally, I do not believe we have the right to tell farmers what they can do with their land when utility solar is not a public safety issue and causes no pollution.
Michael Durall is a husband, father and professional firefighter interested in growth and improvement of the community.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Op-ed: Commissioners should back solar ordinance for Delaware County
Reporting by Michael Durall / Muncie Star Press
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