A Lookout Mountain attraction famous for its overlook of seven states is also looking upward to the sun to help power its operation.
Rock City on Friday unveiled a new solar canopy at its entrance designed to capture the sun for electricity generation and offer shade to visitors coming into the nearly 90-year-old complex of trails, restaurants, entertainment and Mother Goose Village. The addition of the solar panels atop a new garden gathering area comes just two weeks before Rock City opens its annual Garden of Lights for the Christmas holidays and should help highlight and educate visitors on the natural appeal and potential of solar energy.
“Guests will be able to see sustainability in action when they visit Rock City,” said Susan Harris, president and CEO of See Rock City. “The new solar arbor on our ticket plaza sets the tone beautifully for guests who visit.”
Appropriate for its name, Seven States Power Corp. aided in the design and development of the solar arbor at Rock City, where Seven States directors met for their annual meeting Friday. The Rock City solar canopy is similar to the solar canopy and battery storage microgrid that Seven States Power helped install a year ago in front of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as a demonstration project on distributed energy.
Seven States, which was spun off from the Chattanooga-based Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, is jointly owned by the 153 municipalities and power cooperatives that distribute TVA power. Seven States is working with local power companies like EPB on solar and other distributed energy projects along with helping to build and connect more than 100 recharging stations to serve the growing number of electric vehicles on the road.