OMCO celebrated the solar operations of its company with a ribbon-cutting and ceremony on Thursday at its Pierceton location at 1 Arnolt Drive. Pictured (L to R) are, standing: OMCO Solar Director of Business Development Eric Goodwin, OMCO Pierceton Director of Operations Andy Kinkade, OMCO President and CEO Gary Schuster, Inovateus Solar Vice President of Sustainability Tyler Kanczuzewski and Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker. Photo by Leah Sander, InkFreeNews
OMCO celebrated the solar operations of its company with a ribbon-cutting and ceremony on Thursday at its Pierceton location at 1 Arnolt Drive. Pictured (L to R) are, standing: OMCO Solar Director of Business Development Eric Goodwin, OMCO Pierceton Director of Operations Andy Kinkade, OMCO President and CEO Gary Schuster, Inovateus Solar Vice President of Sustainability Tyler Kanczuzewski and Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker. Photo by Leah Sander, InkFreeNews
PIERCETON — OMCO celebrated its renewable energy products made in America with a ribbon-cutting Thursday.

Representatives from the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce joined OMCO executives and employees for the event at the company’s Pierceton location at 1 Arnolt Drive. OMCO recognized the solar operations of its company, including parts that it made to construct an array that in turn is helping power the Pierceton facility.

OMCO Solar Director of Business Development Eric Goodwin said in a ceremony before the ribbon-cutting that the event was “a testament to our made in America history, which is built off 65 years of domestic manufacturing.”

“We were really serious about promoting U.S. jobs and domestic manufacturing from Day 1,” he said. “We do it here right in the middle of the heartland … and this power plant and our continued growth is a commitment that we’re always going to stay here.”

“The Pierceton plant is not only our first solar power plant that helps power the plant, but it also helps produce our most important component of our tracker product that sits behind you,” said Goodwin. “And what we do out of this factory is we build what’s called the torque tube.”

The tubes form the “backbone” of the company’s solar trackers, said Goodwin, the moveable bases that adjust the panels to follow the sun.

“It’s also something that no other tracker supplier to the U.S. market makes themselves, so everybody else is outsourcing it and we get the opportunity to make it ourselves,” he said.

He and subsequent speakers referenced the Inflation Reduction Act that Congress passed in 2022, which includes support for green energy initiatives.

“Really where our focus is … on U.S. manufacturing and on clean energy growth, and those two areas out of that policy give us the opportunity to continue our growth,” said Goodwin.

OMCO President and CEO Gary Schuster then spoke.

“We’re the only solar fixed-tilt and tracker company that actually manufactures its own products in the U.S. with U.S. steel,” he said.

He noted OMCO Solar was founded in 2008.

Schuster said the company has sent enough parts for solar arrays across the county over the years “to supply 1.7 million households” with power.

He noted OMCO had recently started a smaller plant in Warsaw, its fifth, giving the company “over 500,000 square feet of domestic manufacturing capacity” overall.

Schuster cited a figure that “in 2010, solar represented 4% of new energy production added to the grid.”

“In 2022, that number was 50% … and it’s continuing to grow,” he said.

He also mentioned in 2010 there were only a few solar power installations in Indiana.

“And today there are over 2,500 fields generating over 300 megawatts of electricity,” said Schuster.

“OMCO Solar is proud to be a contributor to our nation’s decarbonization goals, our energy security and economic stability,” he added.

OMCO Pierceton Director of Operations Andy Kinkade spoke after Schuster.

He mentioned all the OMCO-made parts that were included in the solar array at the Pierceton facility, including ground posts, bearing mounts, drive mounts, dampener mounts, panel mounts, cross brackets and Z-purlins.

Also speaking Thursday were Inovateus Solar Vice President of Sustainability Tyler Kanczuzewski and Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker. Inovateus installed OMCO’s Pierceton solar array.

After the ribbon-cutting, Schuster noted that solar power is quite economical.

“It’s actually the lowest cost of new energy provided to the grid,” he said.