>Tennessee’s solar power farm could attract kids’ study

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Gov. Phil Bredesen met with reporters following his keynote speech to his seventh Economic and Community Development Conference.

Gov. Phil Bredesen got in touch with his inner school teacher while speaking with reporters about Tennessee’s $62.5 million federal solar power grant. “I also see (the solar power farm) as an educational center. There will be a visitor center which is literally a pull-off from the Interstate. I’m hoping no school kid will travel that Interstate without stopping in to learn a little bit about solar power,” he said.

Bredesen, a Harvard physics graduate, recalled how the 1957 launch of Sputnick, the first robotic spacecraft, led him to study science. “I think there’ll be kids (who) see … that solar farm and say this is something I’d like to do,” he predicted.

Tennessee won approval for a $62.5 million federal economic stimulus grant to fund a solar power farm in Haywood County and solar institutes at Oak Ridge and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“We should be making some (solar) electricity before I step out of this office,” the governor, whose term ends in 2011, predicted to reporters. He expects the fast track project to give Tennessee a strong corporate recruitment position in the solar sector.

Commissioner Matt Kisber said, “the largest solar farm East of the Mississippi River in our state … will be that visible point that will show Tennessee as a leader in the solar industry.” Along with the governor, Kisber expects such green energy projects to attract corporations to the state to create jobs.

“I’m gratified by the news out of Washington not only because it allows us to move forward on these two very important projects, but because I believe the Solar Institute and the Solar Farm can be real catalysts for corporate investment in Tennessee,” Bredesen said.

The governor delivered his good news during his keynote speech at his seventh Economic and Community Development Conference. “I was planning on this for the Fourth of July, and my mother’s birthday and Labor Day,” Bredesen told the crowd, “but it came today, and there cannot be a more appropriate time to announce this.” Hundreds of community leaders from across the state attended the event.

Commenting on the state building commission’s recent approval delay for solar site land acquisition, the governor said, “I think the constitutional officers had some very legitimate questions. He kidded that he wished he had been told ahead of time to keep his blood pressure steady. He said the commission members made “a very reasonable request (for a more specific map of the parcels to be acquired). If I had been there I would have made that same request.”