Press Mention Knoxville News-Sentinel October 27, 1999
SACE Quoted
TVA wants windmills atop Lookout Mountain
In this mention
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to install three 290-foot wind turbines atop Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga as part of its green power program, pending approval from Covenant College. The $3 million project would generate less than 2 megawatts of electricity and allow TVA to sell renewable energy to customers for $2-$10 more monthly. Stephen Smith, president of the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition, praised the initiative as the most significant renewable energy effort by any utility in the Southeast.
This is a small but very important start. This is the most important effort of any utility in the Southeast to promote the use of renewable energy.
Stephen A. Smith
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Full transcript
TVA wants windmills
atop Lookout Mountain
By The Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA - The Tennessee Valley Authority hopes to put three electricity-generating windmills atop Lookout Mountain as part of the utility's "green power" program.
The 290-foot wind turbines would be erected on land owned by Covenant College if the school approves.
The project is part of TVA's plan to sell electricity generated from environmentally sound sources to customers willing to pay between $2 and $10 more on their monthly bill.
The $3 million windmill project would generate less than 2 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 100 to 200 homes, TVA spokesman Brooks Clark said.
It would take 500 such projects to equal the power generated by a nuclear reactor at TVA's Sequoyah plant in Soddy-Daisy, north of Chattanooga.
Still, environmentalists say it's a significant step.
"This is a small but very important start," said Stephen Smith, president of the watchdog group the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition and a member of TVA's Green Power Marketing Team. "This is the most important effort of any utility in the Southeast to promote the use of renewable energy."
TVA has chosen EnXco Inc. of Palm Springs, Calif., for the project. The company owns or operates more than 5,000 wind generators around the world.
Some neighbors have voiced concerns about the noise the wind turbines may generate and the unnatural view the towers might create. Each wind turbine has three 80-foot blades mounted atop a 210-foot tower.
Covenant officials and trustees are weighing public comments about the project and expect to make a decision next month.
"We want to be good neighbors to our community and good stewards of God's creation," said Harry Pinner, the college's vice president of planning. "This has the potential of generating electricity in an environmentally friendly manner, but we also are sensitive to concerns about any visual pollution of the mountain."
Lookout Mountain, on the Tennessee-Georgia line, is among the peaks that ring Chattanooga.