Muncie Star Press | Jane Imbody, April 8
MUNCIE — A new policy brief from Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research is shedding light on the economic impact of county-level restrictions on utility-scale wind and solar development in Indiana.
The brief, published through the Indiana R-STEP Collaborative, summarizes findings from a broader study of renewable energy restrictions across Indiana counties, according to a community announcement.
The report found that counties with restrictions on renewable energy development tended to experience weaker economic performance than those without such limitations. The differences were most evident in employment and gross domestic product, particularly in manufacturing and related sectors.
The estimates are described as lower-bound effects, meaning the analysis identifies consistent patterns but does not establish causality at the highest level of precision.
“This study adds data to an important local and statewide conversation,” Michael Hicks, CBER director and George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ball State’s Miller College of Business, said in the announcement. “Our findings suggest that counties with more restrictive wind and solar policies have, on average, experienced weaker employment growth and slower economic expansion than counties without those restrictions.”
Key findings on GDP and jobs
The brief highlights that counties with renewable energy restrictions experienced an aggregate net GDP loss of about $204 million, while adjacent counties saw a net gain of about $13 million. The study also found a net loss of 8,728 jobs, primarily in manufacturing and transportation/warehousing, partially offset by modest gains in agricultural employment.
The actual effects could be larger, as the available data allow the authors to estimate only lower-bound effects, according to the announcement.
The brief also examines how these restrictions may affect local property values, public revenue and a county’s ability to pay for services over time. Counties with wind and solar restrictions tended to show slower growth in property values used for taxation and in local public revenue over time, patterns that may make it harder for local governments to pay for services or maintain infrastructure without raising tax rates.
“Local officials are often weighing a range of community concerns when making land-use decisions,” Dagney Faulk, CBER’s director of research and brief co-author, said in the announcement. “This research is intended to help inform those discussions by examining how restrictive renewable energy policies are associated with economic and budget-related effects across Indiana.”
The brief was produced by Ball State CBER for the Indiana R-STEP Collaborative, which connects local communities with research-based resources to support informed planning for utility-scale renewable energy projects. The initiative is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning program.
For more information, visit the CBER website, call 765-285-5926, or email cber@bsu.edu.
Read the original article here.