Kentucky Coal Ash Land Now Hosts Solar Panels

By Blake Jackson

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the country’s largest public power provider, is pioneering a solar energy project on a retired coal ash site in McCracken County, Kentucky.

Known as Project Phoenix, the 270-acre solar installation is located at the Shawnee Fossil Plant in West Paducah, where TVA previously stored coal combustion byproducts. TVA officials describe it as the first project of its kind globally.

The solar field has been constructed on a former coal ash landfill, now capped with synthetic turf. This innovative transformation turns what was once unusable land into a valuable source of renewable energy.

"One of the benefits here is it allows us to maximize property that TVA already owns, right? So we can generate energy in a new way, but within the same footprint that we've occupied for decades," said Patrick Kiser, general manager for strategy and engineering at TVA’s Civil Projects Group.

The initiative comes after TVA faced scrutiny following the 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant disaster in eastern Tennessee, where a coal ash spill became one of the worst environmental events in U.S. history.

In response, the Environmental Protection Agency implemented stricter regulations for fossil fuel waste disposal. TVA adapted by drying and compacting leftover coal ash into landfills.

At the Shawnee site, artificial turf covers the capped landfill, allowing solar panels to be installed on top. This setup also permits future access to the buried coal ash, which may be repurposed for construction materials or extracting valuable minerals like gypsum.

“While we're waiting for that technology to advance, we put solar panels on it tied into our grid system,” said Shannon Benton, Shawnee Plant’s manager.

TVA opted for turf instead of grass to reduce maintenance. The solar panels are positioned just inches above the surface and closely spaced, differing from traditional solar farms, but still optimized for sun exposure and safety under EPA regulations.

“This is really the coalescence of some new technologies that allow us to make use of this landfill property that you really couldn't make much use of before,” Kiser explained.

Project Phoenix is expected to generate up to 100 megawatts of clean energy. Meanwhile, TVA continues to expand its energy portfolio, including plans for a small modular nuclear reactor in Tennessee.

Photo Credit: istock-shansekala