A unique application': TVA takes $216M first step toward turning coal ash sites into solar farms

Josh Keefe

Nashville Tennessean

·         The TVA board approved funding for a pilot project to build a solar farm on a coal ash site in Paducah, Kentucky.

·         The farm would provide 100MW of carbon-free energy capacity.

·         TVA hopes that it can eventually build similar project on other sites and generate 1,000 MW of solar energy.

The Tennessee Valley Authority took its first step toward turning its coal ash landfills into solar energy farms on Thursday. 

At its quarterly meeting, the TVA board unanimously approved $216 million in funding for a pilot project aimed at building a 100-megawatt, 309-acre solar farm on top of a coal ash landfill at the Shawnee Fossil Plant in Paducah, Kentucky. 

The project is the first step in TVA's efforts to convert sites contaminated by the legacy of coal into productive sources of renewable energy. If TVA can make the solar installation at Shawnee work and deploy similar efforts across its system, it anticipates adding 1,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity. That is equal to nearly all of TVA's current solar capacity and enough to power roughly 600,000 homes. 

But the eventual impact of the project’s potential is not limited to TVA or coal ash sites, CEO Jeff Lyash said. If TVA can make the process work, it can eventually be used across all sorts of landfills to help generate carbon-free power nationwide and beyond.

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