As TVA diversifies its power generation, the federal utility will look to the sky for a portion of its energy from the largest solar farm yet built in the Tennessee Valley.
TVA tentatively has approved an agreement with NextEra Energy Resources to buy power for up to 20 years from a bank of solar panels projected to generate 80 megawatts in Lauderdale, Ala. Although TVA declined to reveal the purchase price for the power NextEra expects to generate, a new environmental assessment of the project released last month suggests that the the solar farm will provide an attractive substitute power supply for the nearby Colbert Fossil Plant on on TVA's Pickwick Reservoir, which is scheduled to shut down next year.
The solar farm, known as the River Bend Solar project, will occupy about 645 acres five miles west of Florence, Ala., and is scheduled to be built over the next year or so, pending TVA approval of the contract.
The facility would tie into an existing 161-kilo-volt transmission line. Because the area in which the proposed transmission line would be built is predominantly cropland, limited clearing would be required.
NextEra Energy Resources, an affiliate company of Florida Power and Light, is one of America's biggest producers of renewable energy.
In February when the TVA board authorized a 20-year contract with Next- Era for the solar power, TVA Chief Operating Officer Charles "Chip" Pardee said the utility will pay about $61 per megawatt-hour, or roughly the same as the $59 per megawatt-hour the utility expects to pay for energy at a Quantum Choctaw natural gas power plant in Mississippi.
Following last week's TVA board meeting, utility executives said TVA does not reveal the specific prices of what TVA pays for purchased power "for competitive reasons."
"We have a renewable standard power offer," TVA President Bill Johnson said. "We don't solicit offers but we take expressions of interest. So on a regular basis, people come to us and pitch projects. We price those projects with what we estimate is avoided costs (of not buying or generating power elsewhere) - and I believe everyone who is in that business knows what that avoided cost is and whether they can meet it or not."
TVA is inviting public comment through Sept. 14 on a draft environmental assessment of the Alabama solar farm at cpnicholson @tva.gov or by mail to Chuck Nicholson, TVA, 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, Tenn. 37902-1499.