Facebook and General Motors Sign Up for Kentucky Solar

March 29, 2021

Under the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Green Invest program, Facebook and General Motors have signed up for renewable energy from a planned solar+storage project in southern Kentucky.

The Logan County project will include 173 MW of solar and a 30 MW/120 MWh battery system, which TVA said will help increase grid resilience. The power authority and Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. partnered with Nashville-based developer Silicon Ranch on the project.

TVA signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Silicon Ranch to develop, own, operate, and maintain the solar-plus-storage facility. Construction is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed in fall 2023, pending environmental reviews.

TVA said Green Invest has attracted nearly $2.7 billion in solar investment and procured over 2.1 GW of solar on behalf of its customers since 2018.

Corporate procurement
To support Facebook’s regional data center operations, the social media giant will receive 145 MW of the Logan County project’s solar renewable energy credits (RECs) and all of the storage attributes through TVA’s Green Invest program.

The deal is Facebook’s fifth renewable energy agreement with TVA, following a deal for Mississippi solar and storage in early March. Facebook’s renewable commitments in the TVA region now total 742 MW of solar and 80 MW of battery storage.

The social media firm, which ranks among the Top 10 corporate renewable energy buyers of 2020 in the U.S. and globally, has said it aims to power all of its operations with renewable energy.

Meanwhile, General Motors agreed to receive 28 MW of the Logan County project’s solar RECs through same TVA program. The solar will support the automaker’s Bowling Green assembly plant, which is 30 miles from the project and produces the Chevrolet Corvette.

Last May, General Motors agreed to use Green Invest to power its Spring Hill, Tennessee, manufacturing plant with 100% renewable energy. The company has said it plans to source 100% renewable energy for its U.S. operations by 2030 and become carbon-neutral in its global products and operations by 2040. The automaker also ranked among the Top 10 corporate renewable energy buyers of 2020.