Video: Solar Farm Coming to Lowndes County

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COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)–A Nashville Tennessee Company is building two solar panel facilities in Lowndes County. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley was flanked by local officials and representatives of Silicon Ranch during a press conference today [Thursday].

On the steps of the Lowndes County Courthouse, Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley signs an approval giving Silicon Ranch solar company the go ahead to produce 1.6 megawatts of electricity.

“Enough power going to be generated here to power 200 homes and so we want to send a clear signal to the investment community that Mississippi is open for business. We want to plug in solar energy where it makes sense for customers. And this is a great step in the right direction,” said Brandon Presley/MS Public Service Commissioner

“As a matter of fact we got seven or eight projects on the board now. The Silicon farm project, actually we’ve been working on it for the last three years,” said Lee Sykes/LCIDA.

“Its been a long time coming but it was part of a TVA initiative that was certainly supported by the Public Service Commission to generate some projects within the service area for TVA. So this is part of their SSI initiative,” said Matt Beasley/Silicon Ranch.

Silicon Ranch Investments and SR Walker East has a combined investment totaling almost $3 million, they’ll be using 5,000 single access tracking panels that follow the arch of the sun and are more efficient than other types. Construction starts in a couple of weeks.

“Four to six months, but we’re hoping to get this project online producing electricity by the end of 2015,” said Matt Beasley.

With the availability of Four County Electric Power Association and incentives offered by TVA, Columbus and Lowndes County are taking advantage of something natural and simple as sunlight to power our lives.

“I can’t tell you today how much a loaf of bread will be tomorrow but sunshine is going to be free. And we need to be using it to lower costs of living in Mississippi and to save customers money on their power bills. This is a great step in that direction,” said Brandon Presley.

Several solar farms have been approved this year, projects are located throughout the state including sites in Okolona, Brookhaven, Jackson, and Senatobia.