Solar power in Tennessee

1 MW Shelby Farms Solar Farm[1]
Simplified schematic of a grid-connected residential photovoltaics power system

Solar power in Tennessee installed on rooftops is estimated to be capable of producing 23% of all electricity used in Tennessee,[2] with 16,000 MW of solar panels.[3] TVA has a Generation Partners Program that pays $1000 on sign up and $0.12/kWh above retail for photovoltaic systems of from 0.5 kW to 50 kW. Payments are for 10 years and are credited to customers monthly bill and paid either monthly or annually.[4]

Federal law requires net metering upon request, but Tennessee is one of only four states without established policy, meaning that it needs to be negotiated with the utility. A more practical approach is to assume net metering by each utility. Net metering is simply an accounting procedure, and the only requirement is a bi-directional electric meter. Most meters are bi-directional. It is more practical for utilities to discover net metering instead of requiring registration and reporting, just as there is no registration or reporting requirement in connecting an air conditioner, which is instead discovered by utilities. Best practices call for perpetual roll over of kilowatt credits instead of converting to a monetary value.[5]

A 2012 estimate suggests that a typical 5 kW system will pay for itself in about 14 years, and thereafter generate a net savings of $16,622 over the 25 year life of the system.[6]

In 2012, Tennessee's largest solar installation is the 5 MW West Tennessee Solar Farm.[7]

Statistics

Source: NREL[8]
Tennessee Photovoltaics Capacity (MWp)[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Year Capacity Installed % Change
2007 0.4 0 0%
2008 0.4 0 0%
2009 0.9 0.5 125%
2010 5.7 4.8 533%
2011 22.0 16.3 286%
2012 45.0 23.0 105%
2013 64.8 19.8 44%

See also

References

  1. ↑ Agricenter turning sunshine into electricity
  2. ↑ Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation
  3. ↑ U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials pg. 12
  4. ↑ TVA - Generation Partners Program
  5. ↑ Best Practices in Net Metering
  6. ↑ Tennessee
  7. ↑ West Tennessee Solar Farm
  8. ↑ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  10. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  11. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  12. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  13. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  14. ↑ Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-09-26.

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