TVA Expands Renewable Energy Program, Offers Additional Incentives

April 22, 2009

TVA is offering new incentives for homes and businesses to encourage the use of renewable energy and help increase the supply of renewable energy in the Tennessee Valley.

The incentives are offered through an expanded Generation Partners pilot program, which provides technical support and incentives for the installation of renewable generation systems. Under the pilot program, customers sell all of the power they generate to TVA at a premium price, and the local power company credits the customer for the generation received through a credit on their monthly electric bill.

The expanded pilot program offers new participating customers a one-time incentive of $1000 to help offset the startup costs for installing qualifying renewable resources, such as wind and solar generation. Other new features of the program include:

• Biomass energy and low-impact hydropower, which were not part of the previous pilot program, are now eligible sources of renewable energy. Previously, only solar and wind were eligible.
• The maximum installation size has been increased to 999 kilowatts, and the price TVA pays for the generation is now 12 cents per kilowatt-hour above the local electric rate for solar and 3 cents per kilowatt-hour for wind, low impact hydro, and biomass, including the Fuel Cost Adjustment.

“The Generation Partners program allows TVA and local power distributors to work together with those customers who are interested in expanding renewable energy across the Valley,” said TVA Senior Manager of Generation Partners Susan Ross. “Now we are including even more eligible renewable resources and additional incentives to make the program more attractive to more customers.”

In partnership with local distributors, TVA has offered the Generations Partners pilot program since 2003, and 68 homeowners in the region currently participate.

“We also encourage anyone thinking about purchasing renewable energy sources to check out the federal and state tax credits that may be available,” said Ross. More information on federal and state tax credits can be found at www.dsire.org.

Currently, a total of 71 distributors across the Valley offer the Generation Partners program, and interested customers should contact their local power distributor for more information or go to www.gpsgenpartners.com.

TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and is completely self-financing. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve approximately 9 million consumers in seven southeastern states. TVA also manages the Tennessee River and its tributaries to provide multiple benefits, including flood damage reduction, navigation, water quality and recreation.

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Jim Allen, Knoxville, (865) 632-7453
TVA News Bureau, Knoxville, (865) 632-6000

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