wiredInUSA June 2020

Secure supply for southern states

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has contracted 212MW of solar projects, in Tennessee and Mississippi, to supply electricity to the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB). The two contracts are a 20-year power purchase agreement with First Solar for its 177MWRidgely Energy Farm in Tennessee’s Lake County, with the remaining 35MW to come from a deal with Origis Energy for its 200MW solar project in Mississippi’s Lowndes County. Through the TVA Green Invest scheme, KUB has secured enough carbon-free electricity to meet 8 percent of its annual electric load. Long term off-take deals

under the program, which are available to local power companies, businesses and industrial customers, are awarded through competitive bidding. “We launched Green Invest to help local power companies and businesses meet their sustainability goals by building new large-scale solar facilities across our region,” said Doug Perry, vice president of commercial energy solutions. TVA serves parts of Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, East, Middle and West Tennessee and Virginia. Currently, almost 60 percent of its energy supply is carbon-free.

wiredInUSA - June 2020

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