Duff Solar stays on track for 2026, second phase looms

Duff Solar’s first phase stayed on schedule, but Dubois County commissioners are already looking past the construction timeline to the bigger questions a second phase could bring: more acreage, more road traffic, more tax revenue and more pressure on local rules.

EDP Renewables told commissioners the 100-megawatt project west of Huntingburg remained on track for commercial operation by September 2026. That timing matters because the project has been one of the county’s most closely watched utility-scale developments, with neighbors and local officials tracking not just the buildout but the long-term footprint it could leave behind.

The company’s own Duff Solar page gives a slightly different target, saying commercial operations could begin by July 2026. Either way, the project is moving ahead at a pace that keeps it at the center of Dubois County’s solar debate.

In earlier public updates, EDP said it had agreements in place for about 1,600 acres, with roughly 500 acres set aside for the solar panel arrays. The site is planned next to the Duff Vectren Substation on County Road South 650 West, a location that ties the project directly to the local electric grid and to the county roads that serve it.

EDP previously described Duff Solar as a roughly $150 million capital investment, with an estimated $25 million in property-tax payments to Dubois County over the life of the project and about $30 million in payments to landowners. The company estimated a 35-year operating life. On its current project page, EDP says the site could create 500 construction jobs and 2 permanent jobs and will include more than 250,000 photovoltaic panels. The company also lists White Construction, Inc., NEI Electrical Power Engineering, Inc., William Charles Electric, RRC Power & Energy, LLC, SGC Engineering LLC and Terabase Energy among its contractors and subcontractors.

The public policy questions around the project have not ended with the first phase. In February 2024, residents raised concerns about narrow county roads, property damage and whether the Greater Jasper School Corporation needed notice so bus routes could be adjusted. Dubois County approved road-use agreements for the project, with the understanding that affected roads would be upgraded, maintained and returned to their original condition if the field is eventually decommissioned.

That backdrop now shapes the discussion around a possible second phase. Commissioners have paused that expansion while they study solar rules and consider whether new ordinances are needed. The county later adopted a one-year moratorium on new commercial solar applications in unincorporated areas while a technical review committee works on updated standards.

For Dubois County, that means Duff Solar is no longer just a construction site west of Huntingburg. It is a test case for how much land can be committed to energy development, how much local revenue can offset the strain on roads and neighborhoods, and how much control county government intends to keep as more solar proposals come forward.