Despite huge Millington project, Tennessee lagging in solar power
By as early as mid-December, construction crews will invade a 420-acre field in Millington and proceed to fill it with 580,000 sun-tracking photovoltaic panels, creating by far the largest solar-energy project in Tennessee.
From article, (By as early as mid-December, construction crews will invade a 420-acre field in Millington and proceed to fill it with 580,000 sun-tracking photovoltaic panels, creating by far the largest solar-energy project in Tennessee.
But as impressive and significant as the 53-megawatt project might seem – generating enough power for 7,500 homes – it won't propel Tennessee to anywhere near the forefront of states in terms of solar-power usage.
Statewide, solar facilities currently generate less than 190 megawatts, a fraction of the 3,539- and 1,500-megawatt capacities of neighboring North Carolina and Georgia, respectively, according to figures compiled by the Solar Energy Industries Association. Northern states such as Massachusetts and New York produce far more solar power than Tennessee.
But the lifetime cost of a solar facility that will go into service in 2022 – including capital expenses and operation and maintenance, but not tax credits – will be nearly $74 per megawatt-hour, compared to about $54-59 for combined-cycle natural gas plants, according to a recent report by the federal Energy Information Administration.
"Any solar project that goes in costs more," Stowe said. "It's important that the people making those decisions pay that extra cost."
That's what's happening in Millington, where a project three and a half times larger than any existing solar facility in Tennessee will be built just east of the Millington Regional Jetport near the Naval Support Activity Mid-South base.
Announced last year, the project is part of a larger initiative by the Navy to use renewable power to give its bases redundant sources of electricity as a hedge against problems on the grid.)
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