TVA to Purchase Power from Haywood Solar Farm

The Tennessee Valley Authority has agreed to buy up all of the power produced by a planned solar farm in Haywood County and pay a premium for it.

Governor Phil Bredesen plans to use $63 million of federal stimulus money to put up 20-acres of solar collectors in West Tennessee, which could produce 5 megawatts of energy. That’s enough to power roughly 1,500 homes.

TVA chief executive Tom Kilgore says the utility will purchase the electricity above the market rate to test the viability of a larger project.

“It will allow us to observe, and the state to observe, what the real economics of an installation like this are and how much of this we might have in our area in the future.”

Governor Bredesen has agreed to reinvest any revenues into energy projects across the state.

The solar farm could be online in less than two years. It’s now awaiting approval from the Department of Energy