As renewable energy opportunities grow, East Tennessee invests in solar power

People went crazy for toilet paper at the start of the pandemic, and it became a commodity that seemed as valuable as gold.

Harvey Abouelata saw a run on another in-demand product: solar panels.

Prior to the pandemic, Abouelata, the vice president of Knoxville-based Solar Alliance, said the company installed solar panels on eight residences per year.

He installed 148 during the first two years of the pandemic.

In a world with pandemics and wars, Abouelata said he's seen people want to become more independent and have more control over resources like energy — something solar power can provide.

"Talking about solar and what it does is about as sexy as watching paint dry," Abouelata told Knox News. "But what it does for us, (it has) given us resiliency, given us independency, cutting our costs. That's important."

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The benefits of solar power and renewable energy are not lost on Knoxville and Tennessee agencies and businesses investing big in those fields.

Since 2015, the Knoxville Utilities Board has invested $3.3 million in solar energy across three projects.

KUB has invested to bring 502 megawatts of solar power online through the TVA's Green Invest program. The investment will also help the city meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

By 2035, Tennessee Valley Authority spokesperson Scott Fiedler said the TVA hopes to produce 10,000 megawatts of solar power per year. That’s enough to power 35% of the single-family homes across the TVA’s seven-state area.

Businesses going solar

Last year, mechanical seal manufacturer AESSEAL invested $1.8 million to install solar panels and storage batteries into its facility in Blount County. The panels will generate enough electricity to power 70% of the facility's operations and are expected to be completed this October.

AESSEAL quality, safety and manufacturing manager Josh Perry said the company isn't bothered by the amount of money spent and is more focused on doing the best thing for the environment.

Once installed, the solar panels will help the company save on its energy bill.

"Solar is essentially free, you know, no one pays for the sun," said Perry. "(We're) paying for the panels up front, but after that it's a free energy source that's renewable."

In an effort to become more green, AESSEAL, headquartered in the United Kingdom, announced it is investing $40 million into environmentally friendly projects for its facilities around the world through 2029.

In February, Mechanicsville's Beardsley Community Farm installed a 2.7-kilowatt solar array on its education building with the help of Solar Alliance. The panels were provided at cost for $5,000 and Solar Alliance volunteered the labor.

On a sunny day, Beardsley Farm co-director Charlotte Rodina said the eight solar panels can offset all of the building’s electrical needs, from powering computers to the walk-in cooler.

The farm doesn’t have a battery to store the power, so it pivots to traditionally generated power on cloudy days.

While the savings on the electric bill are nice, the panels serve a greater purpose. Rodina said the farm uses the panels to educate visitors on the benefits of solar power and demonstrate environmentally friendly practices.

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“We want to be greener and use less fossil fuels here on the farm,” she said. “It's a win-win because we also get to show everybody these panels.”

Not only can installing solar power help a business become energy independent, it can also provide some tax breaks.

Abouelata said there are lots of tax credits and economic incentives available, including the Rural Energy for America Program grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant provides funding for rural small businesses to install renewable energy systems or to improve energy efficiency.

It's a program Abouelata said many businesses in the South are underutilizing.

"Majority of that money right now is going to Iowa and California," Abouelata said. "That's your taxpayer money going to different states. So I think it's very important that we promote, and really talk about the REAP grant."

Community Investments

Knoxville residents eventually will have easier access to solar.

KUB announced in November 2020 that 20% of Knoxville’s electricity will be generated from renewable sources by 2024. That would be enough electricity to power 83,000 homes a year.

KUB committed $1.5 million to build the first community solar array, according to KUB's 2021 Environmental Report. The one-megawatt array is located on a three-acre plot of land at the Public Works facility on Western Avenue.

“(It is) really a great place for solar, because it's a beneficial way to use the land that otherwise wouldn't have much use,” KUB environmental stewardship analyst Chasity Hobby said.

Residents will be able to subscribe to a portion of the array and the energy that's generated, according to Hobby. Subscribers will then receive renewable energy credits for their share of energy produced.

KUB estimates the community array will generate enough energy to power 100 homes a year.

KUB said it has more than 300 customers utilizing solar power.

On April 21, Knoxville's Parks and Recreation department announced it is partnering with Solar Alliance to build a solar array on top of the Cal Johnson Recreation Center. The 20.5-kilowatt array will offset some of the power used to run the building.

Investing in solar power

A big factor in making Knoxville’s energy supply more renewable is the TVA’s Green Invest program.

The program offers "business and industry an effective, timely, and cost-competitive solution to aggressively meet their sustainability goals," according to TVA's website.

Last year, the TVA and KUB partnered to build a 200-megawatt solar farm in Clay County, Mississippi.

The solar farm, which will be completed in late 2023 by solar energy storage developer Origis, will generate energy that goes into TVA's grid and is distributed across its seven-state footprint.

For participating, KUB gets renewable energy credits, which is a way to account for any creation of green energy. With the farm and other KUB investments, Knoxville is the top solar power investing city in the Southeast, according to the Green Invest program.

Those renewable energy credits can be used to help recruit companies to the Knoxville area that are interested in meeting sustainability goals.

"It not only makes monetary sense, but it makes environmental sense," Fiedler said.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: East Tennessee companies, TVA, KUB invest in solar power