Dubois County Commissioner still chasing answers on Shamrock Solar Project

Commissioner Chad Blessinger told the commission he’s still trying to get someone at RWE to talk to him about the Shamrock solar project, a proposed solar and battery site planned for the abandoned coal mine area north of Ireland.

Blessinger referenced a joint press release from Peabody and RWE in 2024 and explained he’s emailed an individual named in the release multiple times with no reply. He also found and emailed a second contact, Patricia Kakridas — RWE’s Senior Manager, US Media & PR — also without a response. He said he even used the general comment form on RWE’s website. His next step, he said, will be phone calls.

Blessinger said unlike AES and EDP Renewables, no one from the Shamrock project has contacted him or, as far as he knows, the other commissioners.

“I just wanted to let you guys know and the public know that I’m trying to dig information out on this,” Blessinger said.

He said he doesn’t want the county caught off guard if trucks or site work start before local officials know what’s happening, though he noted the developer legally can’t build access roads without county involvement first.

Commissioner Serice Stenftenagel said she’d heard nothing about the project either.

RWE’s own website confirms the project is real and lays out details Blessinger hasn’t been able to get directly. Shamrock is listed as one of nine projects in RWE’s “Sunflower” portfolio, a group of solar and storage projects built on old mine land across Indiana and Illinois. Per RWE’s project page, RWE is developing the Shamrock project in Dubois County. The proposed project is a 300-megawatt solar plus 150-megawatt battery storage facility located primarily on reclaimed mine land around the Shamrock mine. The company lists it as early-stage development, with a target completion date of 2030 or later.

The Sunflower portfolio grew out of a November 2024 partnership between RWE and coal company Peabody Energy, in which RWE took majority ownership of a joint venture called R3 Renewables. That venture is repurposing old Peabody mine land in Indiana and Illinois for solar and battery projects, with a combined pipeline RWE describes as more than 5.5 gigawatts of capacity — enough, the company says, to power over 850,000 homes.

County Commissioners passed a one-year moratorium on all new large energy projects, which is set to end in December.