The Tennessee Valley Authority told WAAY31 the state's largest solar farm is under construction in Colbert County. The clean energy it produces will power the Facebook Data center in Huntsville once constuction is complete in the middle of 2021.
TVA partnered with Longroad Energy to build the solar farm on almost 2,500 acres of land off of Mulberry Lane in Cherokee. It will be a 294 mega watt project. Longroad Energy is the developer of the project and Orsted is the current owner.
Longroad Energy said at the peak of constuction the solar farm will employ 300 people. Just building the project is expected to bring $1 million in sales tax revenue for Colbert County.
Longroad Energy estimates over the next 20 years the solar farm will generate $15 million for the county in the form of property taxes. That tax revenue will go into the county's education budget.
TVA said this is another way to diversify it's energy portfolio and attract more business to the area using clean energy. TVA said since march 62% of the power it's generated has been carbon free.
