Connections

Bloomington neighborhood site of 50th Indiana Solar for All project

Last Saturday, Indiana Solar for All marked its 50th installation of free residential solar panels. Saturday’s installation was in one of Bloomington’s Habitat neighborhoods, on West Moravec Way—across the railroad tracks north of The Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park, south of the B-Line Trail.

Amy Fender, who is the recipient of Indiana Solar for All's 50th solar panel installation, and Karen Lopez, who is in line to receive the next solar panel system, lift a panel up to Gerardo Osorio Gomez and Josh Cisner on the roof. (Kelton O'Connell, Oct. 4, 2025)

Last Saturday (Oct. 4), Indiana Solar for All (INSFA) marked its 50th installation of free residential solar panels. A potluck block party followed the installation.

A project of the Center for Sustainable Living, INSFA identifies low-to-moderate-income homeowners to receive a free installation with donated materials in exchange for a volunteer labor commitment. It’s the sweat equity model, the same kind of approach used by Habitat for Humanity.

Saturday’s installation was in one of Bloomington’s Habitat neighborhoods, on West Moravec Way—across the railroad tracks north of The Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park, south of the B-Line Trail.

The commemorative installation was done at Amy Fender’s house, who bought her home through Habitat’s program about 10 years ago.

Saturday’s work was all done by volunteers—some of them past recipients of INSFA installations. Fender will be required to volunteer 80 hours to future INSFA installations. Through this cyclical process, volunteers get trained in the technology.

INSFA volunteer coordinator Stacey Decker said, “[Recipients] come to quite a few installs, which is good, because then they learn [from] the first ones, then they get it and know it, and they teach the new people.”

“This neighborhood is really special to me,” Fender said. She grew up in Spencer and has loved the diverse neighborhood where she lives since she moved in. “That’s a big deal to me,” she said. “I absolutely love it here.” She said that before the COVID pandemic, the neighborhood often had block parties, where people would bring food. “I really have missed that,” she said. “And so today ... has been amazing because it’s been kind of a smaller version of that.”

Duke Energy, Bloomington’s primary electricity provider, compensates customers who generate their own electricity, if they contribute excess energy to the grid. According to Duke Energy spokesperson Tina Noel, Duke’s current Excess Distributed Generation rate is 4.0856 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s about one-third of the retail price.

Duke currently charges typical customers between 12 and 14 cents per kWh each month. Before SEA 309 was passed by the Indiana legislature in 2017, Duke offered net metering, where customers were credited for their generated energy at full retail price.