Richmond, IN – Officials from the City of Richmond and Richmond Power & Light joined with representatives from the Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA) to cut the ribbon on the IMPA Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Pilot Project at the Richmond 6 Solar Park on Wednesday, June 3rd.

The six-megawatt BESS can store 24-megawatt-hours of energy. This means that when dispatched, the battery will be able to discharge six megawatts of power for four hours onto Richmond’s distribution system. Once fully charged, the battery will be able to store that power until needed, providing a beneficial, controllable resource to IMPA, Richmond Power & Light, and all of IMPA’s members.

IMPA commissioned the BESS in December 2025. To date, the battery has primarily been discharged during morning and evening hours. This timing covers periods of high demand – sunrise or sunset – that are outside the hours in which IMPA’s solar parks are generating renewable energy.

The battery project was established as a pilot project allowing IMPA to test the feasibility of including batteries in the Agency’s power supply portfolio.

“This test project will help our staff familiarize themselves with the technology while demonstrating the viability and nuances of battery storage as a resource,” said Chris Sanders, IMPA Vice President of Generation. “Since commissioning the project in December, the battery has met and exceeded our expectations, adding additional dispatchable resources to our generation portfolio and allowing us to shift our load strategically when market prices fluctuate. With the data we collect from this project, we’ll determine if incorporating future batteries into IMPA’s portfolio is worthwhile.”

“We are always working to balance innovation with cost-effectiveness at IMPA,” said Jack Alvey, President and CEO of IMPA. “We invested in three pilot project solar parks back in 2014 to evaluate the cost, constructability, and reliability of solar power and energy, and it’s paid off in our solar park program, which now provides over 210 MW to our power supply portfolio. Pursuing this battery project, which will deliver economic benefits, is the next step in planning for the energy needs of tomorrow.”