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From the Knoxnews....

TVA restarts Generation Partners enrollments

TVA has reinstated its Generation Partners program for smaller renewable energy projects but is still considering what to do about larger systems.

One week after the federal power provider announced it would freeze new system applications for the program, TVA announced it would again accept all solar, wind and biomass installations up to 200 kilowatts.

Generation Partners pays for electricity generated by customers through solar, wind and biomass technologies. Last year TVA expanded the pilot program to include systems that could produce up to 1 megawatt of electricity (approximately enough electricity to power 1,000 homes) and increased incentives for solar power.

TVA halted the program after changes to the application process earlier this year resulted in an influx of requests totaling $200 million. As a pilot program, Generation Partners is limited to projects totaling $50 million and 200 megawatts.

The new plan will allow all but four projects already approved by TVA to move forward along with any upcoming projects of less than 200 kilowatts, said John Trawick, TVA vice president for commercial operations and pricing. TVA will reconsider incentives for projects generating 200 kilowatts to one megawatt and put forth a plan later this year, he said.

TVA has 37 projects awaiting approval and another 25 in various stages of development, Trawick said. Of those projects, 29 of them represent one or more megawatts of power generation, he said. TVA has approved a total of 264 projects since Generation Partners' inception.

'Those larger projects are creating a challenge for us in terms of managing them against our total budget,' he said. 'We've got to figure out how to accommodate such an overwhelming response.'

Solar company officials said they were pleased with TVA's announcement.

Industry representatives met with TVA officials Wednesday to discuss the plan. The 200-kilowatt cap matches system size limits set by the Solar Institute, a federally funded grant and research program at the University of Tennessee that began accepting grants for solar projects Monday.

'TVA has brought us out of the dark and back in the light,' said Thomas Tripp, president of Big Frog Mountain Corp., a solar installation company based in Chattanooga. 'It's going to keep a lot of people from hitting the unemployment lines on Monday.'

Although TVA has continued the stay on larger projects, Harvey Abouelata, vice president of sales and marketing for Efficient Energy of Tennessee, said he believes TVA will work quickly to resolve the issue.

Efficient Energy has begun construction in East Knox County on what's believed to be the state's first megawatt solar array.

'Based on the conversation today, I'm very positive,' Abouelata said. 'I think we're going to get all those projects worked out.'

The solar industry isn't the only sector to be affected by TVA's decisions on Generation Partners.

Of the $200 million worth of current and proposed projects, about half are powered by biomass, including at least one system exceeding 200 kilowatts, Trawick said. TVA spokesman Mike Bradley confirmed that an 850-kilowatt bio-powered installation in North Alabama had been approved for Generation Partners.

Added to the program last year, biomass has the potential to eclipse solar in incentives because the systems can operate 70-80 percent of the time, compared to the 15-25 percent capacity of photovoltaic systems, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

While SACE and solar companies are supportive of the bioenergy industry, Smith said there are concerns about how TVA will handle incentives for the new technology.

'Within the Generation Partner program, not all resources perform the same; not all resources need the same incentives,' he said. 'There clearly are some challenges.'