Solar: Effort faces barriers, some say

Man wants to go green, says NES won't help

By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer

Tommy Pinkston was impressed that Nashville Electric Service is promoting clean "green" power from sources that include an array of solar cells near the Adventure Science Center.

But, he said, NES wasn't so environmentally friendly when he decided he would like to help the effort by putting solar panels on his home in the Sylvan Heights neighborhood, west of downtown.

He wants to sell the electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority in a pilot program called Green Power Switch: Generation Partners. The program pays people to generate solar power and resells it on their power system.

The amount a person would get for producing solar is generally small compared to a home's electric bill, but it is deducted from the bill.

NES has chosen not to take part, so they told Pinkston no when he inquired. TVA has more than 150 distributors.

energy services manager. "We just
want to wait until it's a true program and other distributors have a
chance to develop it.
"If our customers were really
beating the door down, we would
probably participate. We are very
supportive of green power."
Virtually no one is inquiring
about the program, he said.
Purcell said NES has a similar
program available. It's geared,
however, toward businesses and
would have to be reworked for a
homeowner, he said.
Also, NES pays program partici-
pants less than a fifth of what TVA
pays for power, and participation
in the NES program would pro-
hibit Pinkston or others from join-
ing the TVA project. TVA is trying
to encourage new generators of
solar and wind power.
Pinkston said TVA's program is
the only halfway decent financial
incentive in "enemies for home-
owners to create clean solar
power. Some states have tax
breaks that encourage use of solar
energy, which can be costly.
Homeowners might pay $6,000
to $20,000 to set up a system for
making electricity from sunlight,
which might only be enough for
lights in a home.
"I want to do this because it's a
good thing to do," Pinkston said.
"It's my passion. It's my hobby. I'm
trying to offset our need for dirty
fossil fuel."
TVA produces 63% of the elec-
tricity it sells to distributors in
Tennessee by burning coal. A por-
tion comes from nuclear power
and a small amount from hydro-
electric.
Coal-burning is blamed for air
pollution that rises to unhealthy
levels every summer in cities
including Nashville, Knoxville and
Memphis, as well as the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.
The pollution is known to
trigger asthma attacks and other
problems for humans, animals and
plants.
"Everything I do here may be
one less chunk of coal that has to
go in the burner," Pinkston said.
"One less case of childhood
asthma."
NES pushes another TVA pro-
gram called "Green Power
Switch," where customers pay
extra on their electric bill to get
energy TVA provides from the
sun, wind and methane gas.
There's been little publicity here
about the generating program
Pinkston wants to take part in.
Since TVA is not allowed to buy
and sell power with an individual, a
local distributor like NES is the
only route a resident has into the
partners program.
Pinkston pays $8 a month on his
NES bill for the Green Power
Switch program. He sees that pro-
gram as something of a publicity
gimmick for NES and wants to do
more. He and others who are will-
ing to put up their own money
should have the opportunity that
TVA is offering, one advocate said.
"It's a problem we're having
across the valley," said Gil Hough,
a coordinator with the Southern
Alliance for Clean Energy, head-
quartered in Knoxville. He's part of
a committee working with TVA on
the generating program.
"We have this wonderful pro-
gram and there's a whole lot of
people who want to participate
and they can't. That's a shame."
The Lenoir City Utilities Board
has signed up, and the first home to
generate power for the electricity
grid there will open in August in
Lenoir City. The Caney Fork Elec-
tric Cooperative in McMinnville
also is taking part, as is a Missis-
sippi power distributor.
This is less than 2% of TVA's
distributors, leaving most folks in
the Tennessee Valley out of luck,
said Hough. He said Memphis and
Knoxville have been considering
joining the program.
For the TVA solar program, a
homeowner has to have panels of
photovoltaic cells, which convert
sunlight into electricity, safety fea-
tures to protect utility company
line workers and an extra meter to
tabulate the energy they create.
A person's regular utility meter
still records their home's electricity
use. The value of what is created
with the solar cells is deducted
from the bill.
TVA is paying 15 cents a kilowatt
hour for electricity from the sun or
wind. It's less expensive than the
agency building its own solar or
wind farms. The rate compares to
the six cents a kilowatt hour that
NES charges residential cus-
tomers.
The program doesn't promise a
windfall for residents. A home-
owner might reduce their utility
bill by anywhere from $15 to $45 a
month, TVA officials say.