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Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen announced May 13, 2009, that he has proposed
the Volunteer State Solar Initiative, a comprehensive solar-energy and
economic-development program that will use up to $62.5 million in federal
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to advance job creation,
education, research, and renewable-power production in Tennessee.
In announcing the new initiative, Bredesen was joined by legislative leaders
and key partners including Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the University of Tennessee (UT).
Support was registered from Washington, D.C., by members of Tennessee’s
congressional delegation, including U.S. House Science and Technology
Committee Chairman Bart Gordon and Congressman John Tanner, a member of the
House Ways and Means Committee.
Subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Tennessee
General Assembly, the proposed initiative consists of two closely related
projects:
• The Tennessee Solar Institute at UT and ORNL, which will focus on basic
science and industry partnerships to improve the affordability and efficiency
of solar products; and
• The West Tennessee Solar Farm near Brownsville, a five-megawatt 20-acre
power generation facility at the Haywood County industrial megasite that will
be one of the largest installations in the Southeast and serve as a demonstration
tool for educational, research and economic-development purposes.
“Our success over the past few months in recruiting solar-industry
manufacturers to Tennessee shows we have bright economic prospects for
additional job growth in this area,” Bredesen said. “Now, it’s time to build
on our strengths and position Tennessee for the next wave of investment in
the renewable-energy sector. This approach fits within our state’s broader
job creation strategy, and addresses President Obama’s short- and long-term
goals in economic stimulus and renewable energy.”
Congressman Gordon, an original supporter of the federal Energy Independence
and Security Act, which will make renewable energy more accessible and
affordable for consumers, lauded the project as a forward-looking investment
in Tennessee’s future.
“This statewide initiative puts Tennessee in a leading role nationally to
promote and capitalize on the solar industry, and in turn curb our nation's
dependence on foreign oil,” Gordon said. “It also will bring us closer to
eventually developing a regional high-tech corridor, connecting Oak Ridge and
UT with Tennessee Tech, MTSU, Vanderbilt, and the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama.”
Congressman Tanner, a longtime advocate for rural economic development, said
the investment makes sense given the solar-related economic activity already
underway in Tennessee.
“The solar farm represents a near-term economic boost in West Tennessee
with manufacturing and installation jobs, and a long-range economic asset to
help market the Haywood County megasite,” Tanner said. “The broader
initiative is another step toward meeting our larger goal of energy
independence.”
WEST TENNESSEE SOLAR FARM
The West Tennessee Solar Farm will be located at the new Haywood County
industrial megasite in a partnership with TVA, the nation’s largest public
power company. Under a preliminary agreement, TVA will purchase power
generated by the Solar Farm at a renewable-energy price. Proceeds from power
sales will be reinvested in the site for maintenance, expansion and
improvement.
“The Governor’s comprehensive initiative addresses energy, environmental and
economic-development issues that are important to all of us, and TVA is proud
to be a part of it,” said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of TVA. “We look
forward to including energy from the West Tennessee Solar Farm as a clean and
renewable energy source for TVA’s power supply.”
From an economic-development standpoint, the Solar Farm will be a unique
asset to help market rural Haywood County to new industry, including
renewable-energy product and equipment manufacturers that may be considering
expanding in Tennessee.
Moreover, the farm will serve as a showcase for Tennessee-made solar products
and components, such as panels assembled by Sharp Solar Energy Solutions
Group, which operates a nearby manufacturing facility in Memphis, and glass
produced by AGC Flat Glass, which has a longstanding manufacturing presence
in Northeast Tennessee.
Additionally, the farm will include materials produced by more recent
entrants to the Volunteer State, including Hemlock Semiconductor and Wacker
Chemie AG, both producers of polycrystalline silicon, a key precursor element
in photovoltaic solar panels. Product orders will represent a boost in
short-term production for manufacturers such as Sharp and AGC Flat Glass and
result in downstream economic activity associated with the installation.
In addition to supporting the Solar Institute’s research mission, the Solar
Farm will serve as an educational site for students and the public. The farm,
which will be located at a site to be determined along Interstate 40, will be
Tennessee’s largest solar installation to date and one of the largest in the
Southeast. Demonstrating the zero-carbon production of electricity on a
highly visible and significant scale is expected to encourage future
renewable-energy interest and investments.
TENNESSEE SOLAR INSTITUTE
The Tennessee Solar Institute will be located at the UT and ORNL campuses in
Knoxville and Oak Ridge. At UT, the institute will anchor the new Joint
Institute for Advanced Materials, a previously funded shovel-ready
132,000-square-foot facility that will be the first building in the
university’s new Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus. At ORNL, the institute will
take advantage of existing world-class DOE research assets including the
Spallation Neutron Source and the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
The institute will support Tennessee’s economic growth strategy and advance
U.S. competitiveness by bringing together industry and research activities to
improve the conversion of solar energy into electricity and increase the
capacity of key technologies for storing electrical energy. One ultimate
goal: Make solar technologies more affordable and efficient, which will help
accelerate their adoption in the U.S. and globally. Short-term efforts will
be accomplished in part through increased hiring of graduate research
scholars, postdoctoral fellows and support staff at UT.
UT Acting President Jan Simek said, “The Solar Institute will put UT at the
cutting edge of renewable-technology research. This is a wonderful
opportunity to enhance UT’s research portfolio and at the same time promote
renewable energy in Tennessee.”
ORNL Director Thom Mason added, “Tennessee is taking advantage of a unique
opportunity to become a national leader in the solar industry. By leveraging
all of the state’s assets on the single goal of making solar energy more
affordable, there is a good chance that the Solar Institute will help bring
even more jobs to Tennessee.”
Conversations with manufacturers have begun about how the Solar Institute can
best support their needs as well as discussions about how the institute can
support utilities, government agencies, consumers, and other stakeholders.
Among other activities, the Solar Institute will pursue industry partnerships
to help improve existing manufacturing processes as well as incubate solar
photovoltaic start-up firms and help advance laboratory processes into pilot
manufacturing efforts. Additionally, the institute will work with the
affiliated Solar Farm to demonstrate new technologies and examine the large
solar array’s interaction with the region’s electrical grid.
The Volunteer State Solar Initiative is the most recent in a series of
landmark energy-related investments Tennessee has made over the past two
years under the leadership of Bredesen and the General Assembly.
Bredesen added: “Short-term, these new projects will go hand-in-hand with
creating or supporting jobs in construction, manufacturing and installation,
and scientific efforts to improve the affordability and efficiency of solar
energy. Long-term, they will strengthen Tennessee’s reputation as a national
energy research hub and emerging force in the U.S. solar industry.”
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