The Lake County Board of Commissioners approved a $2.6 million contract with Continental Electric to build a solar farm on the government complex in Crown Point that will be utilized only by the complex.

The commissioners voted 3-0 Wednesday to build the 1,000-watt solar farm on the north side of 93rd Avenue between the juvenile center and the community corrections buildings, said Commission President Mike Repay, D-3rd.

As a direct-use solar farm, it won’t store solar energy, Repay said. The solar farm will help the complex become more energy efficient, Repay said, by reducing the electricity costs over time, which will save taxpayers money and benefit the environment.

“This is for our own use,” Repay said. “We’re trying to do some leadership as well, and reduce our carbon footprint.”

NIPSCO’s role in the project will be “to provide interconnection to the electric system for the customer at the appropriate point in time,” said spokeswoman Wendy Lussier.

Continental Electric, of Gary, officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

As the project moves forward, Repay said the officials working on the project will look into whether the project needs to be approved by the Crown Point Plan Commission and other city boards.

Continental Electric wasn’t the lowest dollar amount bidder, said commissioner’s attorney Matthew Fech. But its bid was the most responsive and responsible, other criteria in bid specification law, that will ensure the solar farm is built and maintained well, Repay said.

“Sometimes, we end up catching a not great situation on these because we end up with a low bidder that’s not really the one that can do it the best,” Repay said.

Commissioner Jerry Tippy, R-2nd, said that other bids for the project left out components of the bid requirements, so the board was concerned that their costs would ultimately increase as construction was underway.

Initial projections for the solar farm found that if the county spent about $2 million on a solar farm, it would save $6 million in energy costs in the long run, Tippy said.

Electricity rates likely won’t decrease anytime soon, Repay said. While the county has to pay up front to install the solar farm, Repay said it will realize savings in the long run.

“As a group of commissioners, we looked at it and decided it would be a good cost savings for the people of Lake County,” Tippy said.

akukulka@post-trib.com