New Oak Ridge solar farm can power dozens of homes

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE: http://wate.com/2015/04/09/new-oak-ridge-solar-farm-can-power-dozens-of-homes/

OAK RIDGE (WATE) – Dozens of families in Oak Ridge now have the power to receive electricity through a new solar farm.

Now that the power is connected, all 3,268 solar modules are up and running. The area used to be a brownfield, but now it’s transformed into a much greener field.

“We really wanted to turn something that was a negative into a positive,” said Restoration Services Inc. renewable energy manager Gil Hough.

The project is called VIS SOLIS, which is Latin for “the power of the sun.” Project manager Joel Goehner says this is the best thing you could develop on this property.

“This land was put to great use in the past, but now it’s not suitable for any other development and to be able to turn that around and put clean energy on it, I think is a really exciting feature,” said VIS SOLIS Project Manager Joel Goegner.

One megawatt solar array is capable of providing 133 homes with electricity making one of the largest In East Tennessee. Weather can play a role in how much power the plant can produce.

“If it gets dark all of a sudden because the clouds are so thick, then you’ll probably cut down but a light thunderstorm kind of gray and drizzling we’ll still be producing power fine but it will be a little less then compared to a perfect sunny day like this,” said Hough.

Restoration Services Inc. hopes that this jump start a chain reaction of developing solar farms in East Tennessee.

“We have four more in line all here in East Tennessee, so we see this as kind of a kick start of what we hope to be a series of similar ones in Cumberland county and Knox county,” said Hough.

All residences that receive power from this facility will not see a jump or a decline in their power bill.

Both RSI and VIS SOLIS hope to continue this partnership in the future.