(Photo Credit: Torstensimon, Pixabay)General Motors signed an agreement for 100 megawatts of solar energy to fully power GM’s Tennessee manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, starting in late 2022.
The automaker signed a green tariff agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority for as much as 100 MW annually from a solar farm in Lowndes County, Mississippi, being developed by Origis Energy. GM said that the deal was made possible by TVA’s Green Invest program, which supports large-scale renewable energy installations across the utility’s service territory.
TVA presented plans early last year to cut back on coal-fired generation and add more solar capacity over the next 20 years. During a quarterly financial call in February 2020, the federal electric utility reported adding 484 MW of new contracted solar capacity since December, an increase of 44%.
At 2,100 acres, Spring Hill Manufacturing is GM’s largest facility in North America. Currently the plant builds several engines, the GMC Acadia, and the Cadillac XT5 and XT6. The property includes 700 acres set aside for farming and another 100 acres designated as a wildlife habitat recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council.
Once the Origis Energy solar project being built in Mississippi begins delivering power, it’s expected to push GM’s renewable energy usage in the United States past the 50% mark by 2023, according to the automaker. Nationally, GM aims to source 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 for its owned sites. Globally, the goal is to get to 100% by 2050.
The automaker has been consistently sourcing renewables stateside, including last year’s purchase of wind energy through DTE Energy in Michigan.
“We’ve had a combination of power purchase agreements and green tariffs, working with utility providers to source renewable energy as well as onsite renewable energy,” Dane Parker, GM’s chief sustainability officer, told Environment + Energy Leader this year.
