Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport could be home within five months to a 1.2-megawatt solar plant, the largest such array in EPB's service area, EPB Assistant Vice President Wendell Boring said Monday.
The project, which is five times larger than any such previous endeavor, hinges on securing a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. Under the plan reviewed by Chattanooga Airport Authority board members Monday, the FAA would provide 95 percent of the estimated $4.3 million project cost.
"This puts us on the cutting edge," airport authority board member Jim Hall said.
If Congress approves the FAA's budget in coming weeks, contractors can begin installing 4,256 panels producing 235 watts each in the airport's southwest corner. The panels will reduce the airport's effective power consumption to 2.3 megawatts, down from 4.5 megawatts five years ago, said John Naylor, the airport's vice president of planning and development.
Dan Jacobson, chairman of the airport's board, commended Naylor on working with Pointe General Contractors, a local company, as well as procuring the panels and other supplies from U.S.-based companies.
"This project not only promotes things green, but promotes things local and regional," he said.
The airport will pay an estimated $217,000 for its piece of the program, unless administrators can convince state officials to contribute 2.5 percent of the funding to cut local expenses in half.
Either way, the panels will earn the airport an estimated $103,000 per year through the sale of power to TVA at an average of 9.1 cents per kilowatt hour, according to TVA officials.
At that rate, the project would be nearly paid off locally after only two years.
The warranty on the panels lasts 25 years, and the tempered glass-covered devices can withstand the blow of a one-inch diameter hailstone traveling at 50 mph.
Provided all goes well, administrators could have a chance to seek a second grant to double the size of the facility, said Michael Landguth, president of the Airport Authority.
To get additional funds, Landguth said, the plan is to "work quickly, execute, go back very quickly and say, do you have any more grant funding?"
Contact staff writer Ellis Smith at esmith@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6315.