90 applications for TVA energy projects

TVA is working its way through more than 90 proposals for new biomass and solar power generation projects submitted to the agency as part of a stop-gap measure to accommodate larger renewable systems until the agency establishes a formal program for them.

Steve Johnson, president of LightWave Solar Electric in Nashville, submitted two of those applications — managing to get commitments for two megawatt-sized solar arrays to be built in Middle Tennessee — before the deadline. His company also is looking to partner on another project with an application in the pipeline.

"There was a sense of urgency," said Johnson, whose installations already span the state including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Mellow Mushroom on Cumberland Avenue. "In some ways that's good it made everyone commit to doing it. In that sense it helped these three customers make up their mind."

The LightWave Solar applications are among the proposals, which would generate more than 50 megawatts of renewable power, submitted since TVA earlier this summer closed its Generation Partners incentives to installations larger than 200 kilowatts in generation capacity. Generation Partners pays a premium for wind, solar and biomass-generated electricity within TVA's seven-state region. TVA changed the requirements for qualifying projects after applications exceeded the limitations of the pilot initiative.

The agency set an August 31 deadline for larger projects to receive the same incentives as Generation Partners until a new program could be formulated. The deadline was designed to allow projects already in the pipeline at the time Generation Partners was limited to be grandfathered into the program, said Susan Curtis, TVA's senior project manager for Generation Partners. But TVA received a flurry of last-minute projects it had no knowledge of during prior communication with distributors.

TVA already has approved four biomass and 23 solar systems and now is processing applications for an additional 16 biomass and 51 solar installations, she said.

"I would say there's more than 20 applications that just turned up that we really didn't know about," Curtis said. "We'll be reviewing all of those because our goal was to fulfill our commitment to the distributors and to the projects they had in the pipeline."

TVA will review the additional projects to determine whether or not they merit final approval, examining them to see if applicants have obtained proper permits and received the go-ahead from their local distributors, she said, noting that processing the applications will take several weeks to complete.

In the meantime, TVA is working to develop a permanent solution for utility-sized renewable energy generation projects, which in recent months have been gaining momentum in the industry thanks to federal incentives, state grants, the lower cost of solar power and last year's expansion of the Generation Partners program.

The power provider met with solar industry representatives a couple of weeks ago to discuss alternatives, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

He said TVA is considering creating a program for installations from 200 kilowatts up to possibly 20 megawatts in size that would pay a to-be-determined rate for local, clean power production. While welcoming TVA's proposed concept, Smith said, whether it works for the solar industry depends on the final price TVA agrees to pay for the power.

Although the cost of photovoltaics continues to drop, he said TVA needs to ante up 15 to 25 cents per kilowatt hour for the program to be viable - at least for solar technology.

"The discussions TVA is having at a higher level are good conversations to have," Smith said. "But it is in my mind questionable whether TVA is going to be a full-fledged partner in developing clean energy in the Tennessee Valley."

In the meantime, thanks to the availability of federal incentives and the state's grant program through the Tennessee Solar Institute, Johnson said he's busy with local solar projects, most of which are less than 200 kilowatts in size. TVA needs to take its time and get the future incentive program right for larger installations, he said.

"It has to make sense financially for developers, and it has to make sense for TVA as well," he said. "If we can get something worked out in a couple of months that will be great."