TVA Will Explore Building Utility-Scale Solar on Closed Coal Ash Sites
Credit to Author: Sonal Patel| Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2022 19:54:50 +0000
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will pursue a first-of-its-kind pilot program at the Shawnee Fossil Plant in West Paducah, Kentucky, to determine if closed coal ash sites are suitable for utility-scale solar projects.
The self-funded U.S. corporate agency’s board on Nov. 10 approved a $216 million pilot project to explore repurposing the 1,071-MW coal-fired power plant’s 300-acre coal ash site for up to 100 MW of solar generation. TVA said the project, the first of its type in the nation, could “potentially be duplicated at other suitable locations.”
While TVA recycles 39% of the coal ash it produces from its five active coal power plants—a total 25 generating units—it maintains 12 coal ash sites. TVA said it selected Shawnee, a plant with nine active units, because it is in the process of closing the plant’s coal ash site “in place” utilizing a patented closure cap system that includes closure turf. This type of cap system consists of a specially engineered turf and sand fill.
“The turf provides the capability of a revolutionary new approach to solar on closed landfills and impoundments by directly attaching solar panels to the closure turf using a system that maintains the integrity of the closed site,” a TVA spokesperson explained. The project to repurpose the site for solar construction and operation “is pending all required environmental reviews and regulatory approvals must be obtained,” she noted.
The TVA is intent on repurposing its retired fossil sites as part of its decarbonization efforts. Using existing TVA land “helps preserve arable farmland and preserve greenfield space for other economic development opportunities in the valley,” it said on Thursday. Other benefits include “providing an innovative reuse option for a closed coal ash site,” and placing renewable generation closer to existing transmission infrastructure.
The pilot project, notably, will also support TVA’s future plans as outlined in the Strategic Intent and Guiding Principles document “to help innovate new methods of decarbonizing the power system without impacting reliability, resiliency or low cost,” the company said.
Guided by the document, the company has ramped up its efforts to procure 5 GW of carbon-free power. On Thursday, TVA noted it has also optimized its existing nuclear fleet, which provides almost 40% of its seven-state region’s power, and is working on a grid-scale lithium-ion battery storage project. It is also exploring the use of clean hydrogen to generate power and lower its carbon emissions. The company said the pilot project will expand on TVA’s efforts to make its region “the national focal point for decarbonization by leading innovation efforts in new nuclear, renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy storage, and hydrogen.”
So far, the company has achieved a 57% reduction in its “mass” carbon emissions from 2005 levels. It is now on a path to an estimated 80% reduction by 2035 and its net-zero carbon “aspiration” by 2050, it said. How the company will proceed, however, may be determined by the results of a “Valley Decarbonization Study,” which TVA intends to conduct next year. “The study is intended to model pathways to further reductions in emissions throughout the economy,” it noted.
“TVA is outcome-focused and there is no single answer to reducing carbon emissions,” said Jeff Lyash, TVA president and CEO, on Thursday. “Our path to a clean energy future may not always be linear, but our end goal is to follow a defined strategy to accelerate the process across the industry and expand carbon-free technologies that will power our nation’s sustainable clean energy economy without impacting reliability, resiliency or affordability.”
Innovation will be central to achieving this balance, Lyash suggested. “The space between execution and aspiration is where innovation lives,” he said. “Achieving a net-zero clean energy future is critical to our nation’s energy security goals and requires innovative thinking and exploring new technologies. TVA was created as an innovation company and is uniquely positioned to demonstrate these technologies for the rest of the industry—both in the U.S. and around the world.”
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior associate editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
This is a developing story: We’ll provide updates as we learn more.
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