Orsted completes solar project in Alabama for TVA, Facebook

Clean energy company Orsted recently completed the Muscle Shoals solar PV project in Colbert County, Ala.

The 227 MWac facility is located in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) service area, an organization with which it has a long-term power purchase agreement. This new project will support Facebook’s data center in Huntsville, Ala., that just started operations.

“We’re very excited to add to our high-quality, diverse customer base through this long-term partnership with TVA and Facebook,” Vishal Kapadia, chief commercial officer of Orsted’s Onshore business, said. “The acquisition and completion of Muscle Shoals represents the continued successful execution of our expansion strategy in which we seek to complement our core market greenfield development activities with opportunistic acquisitions in new markets to diversify our portfolio.”

Since 2005, the TVA has reduced carbon emissions by 63 percent. By 2030 it plans to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent and by 2050 it expects to achieve net-zero emissions generation.

“This solar farm is a historic moment in TVA history,” Doug Perry, senior vice president of TVA Commercial Energy Solutions, said. “It’s the first Green Invest project to come online, and it demonstrates the value of TVA’s focus on cleaner energy. Green Invest is helping us build the clean, low-cost energy system of the future that’s essential to achieving our environmental goals and competing for jobs in the new clean economy.”

Orsted has 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar and storage capacity in operation and under construction. It develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants.