WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Officials flipped the switch on a new solar farm in Washington County, Tennessee Thursday.
BrightRidge, Silicon Ranch and Tennessee Valley Authorities officials were on-hand to initiate service from the Martin Solar Farm in Jonesborough.
Brightridge will purchase power from the farm for the next 30 years to provide renewable energy while reducing the area’s carbon footprint and helping boost economic development.
“These are some of the things that when someone is looking to a region nowadays, they say ‘what kind of power do they have? What is it serving?’ And we say we have a very diverse power service,” said BrightRidge CEO Jeff Dykes.
In addition to the power the farm will provide, Dykes said the construction of the farm allowed BrightRidge to offer broadband service to 32 nearby homes.
The solar sites will also not require the grass to be mowed, since sheep will be brought in to graze and clear the land.
The Martin Solar Farm is the second solar farm in Washington County, Tennessee. The other went online in Telford in 2019. Officials said they are considering adding even more solar farms to the area in the future.
