Northern Indiana Public Service Co. has started work on two new solar farms in northwest Indiana that will generate a combined 465 megawatts of power when they come online next year.

Leaders of a state energy task force said they won’t get involved in a debate over how to calculate the extra energy people with solar panels deliver to the grid.

Hoosiers who want solar panels on their home only have a year to install them to get the best return on their investment. Higher net metering rates are set to expire by July 2022.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission unanimously approved the project, which will stretch across nearly 1,800 acres in Clinton County, in an area about 50 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

If the projects are completed Indiana is expected to see the third highest increase in megawatts of large-scale solar in the country -- with nearly four gigawatts, or 4,000 megawatts, proposed.

Purdue University researchers are looking into ways to lower those costs, which would make these plants competitive.

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and six other groups want Indiana to deny CenterPoint Energy's request to give people with solar panels fewer credits for energy they deliver to the grid.

A controversial bill that aimed to standardize where wind and solar farms could be located in the state was withdrawn in the state Senate on Tuesday.

An educational event at Sand Creek Elementary School on April 17 will give community members the opportunity to learn more about the school's decision to go solar.

Four years ago, Indiana passed a law to slowly decrease the amount solar customers get for energy they generate -- from the higher retail rate to the lower wholesale rate.