Lowe In The News

SEN. FINNEY SAYS SOLAR FARM WILL MEAN JOBS FOR WEST TENNESSEE
Research and development center will help attract businesses to industrial megasite

A model solar energy project will "sweeten the pot" for businesses to bring good-paying jobs to the West Tennessee megasite, Senator Lowe Finney said Thursday.

He joined Governor Phil Bredesen as he unveiled plans for the $62.5 million Volunteer State Solar Initiative. The initiative will include the West Tennessee Solar Farm in Haywood County on the new industrial megasite, a roughly $30 million investment.

"This project will put West Tennesseans to work, building and running it," Senator Finney said, "and it will be a tremendous draw for our megasite. A major research and development center for solar energy will make our site a natural for companies with good paying 'green-collar' jobs. This investment will truly make the West Tennessee site a one-of-a-kind location.

"We've been encouraged by how well the megasite concept worked to draw Volkswagen to East Tennessee and Hemlock Semiconductor to Clarksville. Now, it's West Tennessee's turn to show what it has to offer - a good business environment, prime location, and a strong, available workforce.

"The solar farm will really sweeten the pot and help put West Tennesseans to work."

Governor Bredesen's proposal for the Volunteer State Solar Initiative will also include the Tennessee Solar Institute at UT and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It will focus on building partnerships between industry and science to make solar energy more affordable and efficient. The solar farm will be Tennessee's largest facility for generating solar energy and one of the largest in the Southeast.

The Solar Initiative will have both short- and long-term benefits for Tennessee.

It will translate into 615 jobs building and running the facilities in the short run and play a significant part in the nation's march to energy independence. In the long run, it will help establish Tennessee as a hub for the alternative energy industry.

"We are poised to be a major player in the American economic recovery," said Senator Finney, the sponsor of the Regional Megasite Authority legislation in 2007 and 2009.

"As the nation gets back on its feet with the jobs created by projects like the solar farm, we're also working our way toward energy independence. That opens up an all new energy industry - something we can count on for years to come to keep our economy stable and our people employed."