The Tennessee Valley Authority, a business owned by the U.S. government, that supplies electricity for business and utility customers, has announced a new green initiative last fall to encourage the medium and small sized green energy producers.
The company has announced its Renewable Standard Offer to purchase power from the renewable power producers at variable rates based on the demand on its system and time of the day the power is generated.
The program has encouraged clean energy power producers such as methane recovery, biomass, solar and wind power with a maximum power production capability up to 20 MW. It also maintained a 50% ceiling to receive power from a single technology out of its 100 MW capacities. The Renewable Standard Offer program of TVA concurrently works with its other power purchase program that buys power from small green power producers with up to 200 kW capabilities at diverse rates.
Lately, Sharp Manufacturing of America's solar power production sites in Memphis and Houston, Miss, located landfill gas facility of Waste Management Renewable Energy have joined the Renewable Standard Offer program. The Sharp Solar facility in Memphis with a power production capability of 201 kW or 0.2 MW is anticipated to commence its power generation in June and will be linked through Memphis Light Gas and Water to TVA. The company is also linked to the TVA program from its Memphis plant site.
The Waste Management's landfill gas facility at Houston, Miss, will supply 1.6 MW of green power generated from methane at its Prairie Bluff Renewable Energy Facility, thus becoming the second such facility of the company to supply power. The facility is anticipated to become operational by March 2012. Natchez Trace Electric Power Association will distribute the power generated from the facility. Earlier, during January the company’s, landfill gas facility at Camden, Tenn, became the first program applicant by supplying 4.8 MW power
Source: http://www.tva.com/