A chemical company today officially opened a solar farm that is located on a formerly contaminated site in Indianapolis.
Vertellus Specialities officials say it is the first utility-sized solar farm to be constructed on a Superfund sitea federally designated abandoned area where hazardous waste is located.
The 43-acre site used to be a railroad tie coating facility and lay unused for over 30 years due to contamination.
Under a long-term lease, South Korean company Hanwha has installed the solar farm on South Tibbs Avenue. Vertellus owns the land and Indianapolis Power and Light provided a grant for the solar farm's construction.
The Maywood solar farm could generate 10.82 megawatts of solar energy or enough to power more than 1,800 Indiana residential homes each year.
Casey Kuhn and Network Indiana contributed to this report.