New Solar Farm Saves Carroll County Electric $98,000 in July

HUNTINGDON (August 28) — The new solar array by Silicon Ranch located in Trezevant has delivered impressive savings for Carroll County Electric during its first month of operation. Ryan Drewry, the general manager of Carroll County Electric, reported that the solar array generated enough electricity to save the local power distributor $98,000, an amount that would typically have been paid to TVA. The majority of these savings, $69,000, came from reductions in peak demand fees charged to CCED during periods of high demand.

Drewry noted that July was exceptionally hot, leading to the highest electricity usage in the company's history. Fortunately, TVA's system remained stable throughout the month, and no conservation measures were requested from its customers.

In other news, Drewry said plans for constructing a new substation in the Leach Community are moving forward. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is currently reviewing the plans and soon a bond agency will issue the financing bonds. The good news is that interest rates are lower than what was originally projected. Once construction begins, crews will be on site for approximately 30 to 45 days.

On Thursday, August 26, TEC crews were busy repairing a severed fiber optic cable in the McLemoresville area. As a result of the fiber cut, Carroll County Electric temporarily lost telephone service. TEC estimated that the repair would take about five hours. The CCED staff monitored the service outage map to ensure that all customers had electricity, as they were unable to report outages by phone during this time.