TVA Expands Renewable Energy with Sharp, Waste Management

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., May 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A solar power facility in Tennessee and a landfill gas-to-energy site in Mississippi have joined the Tennessee Valley Authority's growing initiative for mid-size renewable energy generators supplying green power to TVA.

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Sharp Manufacturing Co. of America's solar site in Memphis and Waste Management Renewable Energy's landfill gas facility in Houston, Miss., are TVA's latest Renewable Standard Offer projects.

Started last fall, TVA's Renewable Standard Offer pays renewable energy generators based on the time of day the power is produced and the demand on the TVA system. The initiative is open to generators with a capacity of up to 20 megawatts using biomass, methane recovery, wind or solar energy sources. No single technology can exceed more than 50 percent of the program's total capacity of 100 megawatts.

The Renewable Standard Offer complements TVA's Generation Partners program, which purchases power from smaller generators with a capacity of up to 200 kilowatts at varied rates.

The Sharp solar project in Memphis, with a capacity of 201 kilowatts, or 0.2 megawatts, is expected to begin producing electricity by early June. The power will connect to the TVA system through Memphis Light Gas and Water. Sharp also is a TVA Generation Partner and operates other solar generation facilities at its Memphis plant site.

Waste Management's landfill gas facility will provide 1.6 megawatts of capacity from methane produced at the company's Prairie Bluff Renewable Energy Facility. Generation at the site is scheduled to begin in March 2012. The power distributor is Natchez Trace Electric Power Association.  

The Houston, Miss., project is Waste Management's second Renewable Standard Offer site and the third overall in the TVA program. The company's 4.8 megawatt-capacity landfill gas facility in Camden, Tenn., became TVA's first program participant in January. It is scheduled to begin delivering power in September through Benton County Electric System in Camden.

All TVA Renewable Standard Offer projects are subject to applicable environmental requirements and securing transmission arrangements.

"These new facilities from Sharp and Waste Management are very encouraging additions to TVA's newest renewable power initiative," said John Trawick, TVA senior vice president for Commercial Operations and Pricing. "In combination with our Generation Partners, these projects represent positive growth in locally-produced renewable power for the TVA service region."

To learn more about TVA's Renewable Standard Offer, visit the TVA website at www.tva.com/renewablestandardoffer. To learn more about TVA's Generation Partners Program visit www.tva.com/greenpowerswitch/partners.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities that can produce about 34,000 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA's service territory are below the national average.

SOURCE Tennessee Valley Authority