Utility backs solar farm atop capped Kentucky coal ash pit

By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation’s largest public utility is proposing a $216 million solar farm project in Kentucky atop a capped coal ash storage pit at a coal-fired power plant. The federal Tennessee Valley Authority voted Thursday to advance the initiative at Shawnee Fossil Plant in Paducah. The utility says it’s a first-of-its-kind pilot project that would convert land used as a waste heap for the byproduct of burning coal for power into a solar farm that would help produce 100 megawatts. Officials say the model could ultimately be used at the utility’s other closed coal ash sites. Still, environmental advocates note that TVA is falling short of the goal by President Joe Biden’s administration for a carbon-pollution-free energy sector by 2035.