Tennessee Valley Authority
Green Power Switch News
A New Generation of Partners
by Laurie Parker, NES
The rooftop of Street Dixon Rick Architecture on Kenner Avenue in Nashville is drawing lots of attention...and sunlight. They’ve just installed 72 photovoltaic solar panels on top of their building.
Why’d they do it? The fi rm’s co-owner, Steve Rick, says, “We’ve been telling our customers all along to ‘think green’, and we felt like it was time for us to do the same.”
Street Dixon Rick Architecture is the fi rst business in
Nashville to become a GPS Generation Partner. The
Generation Partners program provides support and
incentives to homes or businesses for the installation of
solar and wind generating facilities. Customers produce
their own green energy and sell it back to TVA. The upfront
cost to buy small installations can run anywhere from $8,000
to $20,000. The project at Street Dixon Rick was anything
but small. It has the potential to generate 12 kilowatts per
hour (kWh) of green energy. The architecture fi rm worked
with Steve Johnson of Lightwave Electric, a local designer/
installer of solar power systems.
Rick says, “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without taking advantage of the Tennessee Clean Energy Technology grant program for businesses installing renewable energy. The grant will pay up to 40 percent of a qualifi ed clean energy technology system. We know this will pay off in a reasonable amount of time.”
Rick encourages other businesses to move forward with environmentally friendly initiatives. To learn more about becoming a GPS Generation Partner, contact your local power company or visit www.gpsgenpartners.com.