TVA expands energy production at Shawnee

The Tennessee Valley Authority is expanding its energy production capability at the Shawnee Fossil Plant in McCracken County.

TVA is now using a closed coal ash site on the property as the setting for a large-scale solar farm dubbed Project Phoenix. The project is the first of its kind in the world, according to officials. At maximum capacity, the 270-acre solar field can generate 100 megawatts of power, and since it's already on the site of a power generation plant, the power can be added to the grid at minimal cost. 

The coal ash field was unused land on the Shawnee site. Project Phoenix makes that land useful without covering farmland like similar private facilities being set up in other parts of Kentucky. In its current configuration, Project Phoenix produces only a fraction of the power of the main plant. However, it does serve as a template for land use at other facilities in the TVA system.

Project Phoenix is another example of TVA's "all-of-the-above" approach to energy production utilizing nuclear, hydro, coal, natural gas, and renewables like wind and solar. 

The Shawnee Fossil Plant sits on almost 1700 acres just northwest of Paducah and produces over 1,100 megawatts - enough energy to power more than 625,000 homes.