TENNESSEE’S LARGEST SOLAR ARRAY UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN JACKSON
4,914 Panels from Sharp® to Provide Enough Clean, Renewable Energy for 250 Homes
JACKSON, TN, October 11, 2010 – Tennessee’s largest solar energy farm is currently under construction in Jackson. The project, located at the American Drive Business Center, consists of 4,914 Sharp solar modules manufactured at Sharp’s Memphis, TN IBEW union-supported manufacturing facility. When completed, the Jackson solar farm will be the second 1MW solar project within the seven-state Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) region installed by Efficient Energy of Tennessee. The Jackson Tennessee solar farm will be participating in the TVA Generation Partners Program.
The total project includes a one megawatt (MW) solar power system, plus a 47 kilowatt (kW) solar installation. The clean, emissions-free power from the 1 MW solar array will go onto the Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) grid where it will be purchased by TVA. The energy produced from this solar array is enough to power more than 250 average-sized homes. The power from the 47 kW solar array will be sufficient to power a portion of the operations at the Business Center, located at 96 American Drive in the Madison Industrial Park.
Designed and installed by Tennessee based Efficient Energy of Tennessee (EETN), the Jackson solar farm will be EETN’s second 1 MW installation in Tennessee. The first utility scale project, also powered by panels from Sharp and constructed by Efficient Energy of Tennessee, is located in Knoxville and went online in July 2010. The Jackson solar farm is scheduled to be online in December 2010.
“Tennessee is becoming a regional leader in clean, efficient solar power,” said Eric Hafter, Senior Vice President, Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group. “Sharp is delighted to contribute to the growth of Tennessee’s solar industry with our Memphis plant and with our ongoing involvement in solar projects such as this one in Jackson.”
“This project is a terrific example of what private industry can do with the support of innovative state and utility based programs” said Robbie Thomas, President of Efficient Energy of Tennessee. “We’re so pleased to work with companies like Sharp to create jobs, stimulate the state’s solar industry, and help bring the benefits of clean, renewable energy to the people of our state”.
The Jackson solar farm will use Sharp’s ND-224UC1 solar modules. Using breakthrough technology, made possible by nearly 50 years of proprietary research and development, this panel is designed to withstand rigorous operating conditions and offers high power output per square foot of solar array.
