Tom Bailey Jr. - The Commercial Appeal -

Solar power generating systems may be built at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library and at the Memphis Bioworks parking garage on Union.

TVA on Wednesday approved allowing those projects as well as a solar array at Agricenter International to receive a lucrative subsidy that makes the projects financially feasible.

The systems must be completed by April 12 to qualify for the 12 cents TVA would pay for each kilowatt hour generated, beyond and above the regular retail price (now about 9 cents).

In addition to its own solar power system atop the parking garage at Union and Dudley, Memphis Bioworks would serve as the agent for the library project.

The Bioworks Foundation is creating a biosciences research park on the old Baptist Memorial Hospital site.

Both the city and Memphis Bioworks had been reluctant earlier this week to describe the proposals, saying they first wanted either TVA approval for the subsidy or to be further along in the work.

"The solar panels are something that (Housing and Community Development Director) Robert Lipscomb is working on with Bioworks, but it's still in the early phases, so I think he'd prefer to wait until there was a more definitive plan to talk to you about it," Memphis spokesman Mary Cashiola said in an e-mail.

Steven J. Bares, president of Memphis Bioworks Foundation, confirmed the proposals on Monday, but asked to wait until TVA approval before discussing them.

The system atop the Bioworks parking garage would generate 715 kilowatt hours of power, and the array at the library, 3030 Poplar, would generate 383 kilowatt hours, said Becky Williamson, strategic marketing coordinator for Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division.

At the library, the solar panels would be placed on the roof and also, possibly, atop a section of covered parking that would be built in the parking lot, she said.

The Agricenter International system would generate 998 kilowatt hours, with 4,000 panels erected on about five hillside acres just west of the Ducks Unlimited headquarters. That's enough power to support up to 200 houses or 20 businesses on average.

The $4.2 million solar farm at the Agricenter will be financed and initially owned by Silicon Ranch, a company founded by former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen.

All three projects hinged on a special deadline extension from TVA. Last summer, the agency lowered the maximum-sized solar program that could receive the 12-cent premium from 999 kilowatt hours to 200. But since each of the Memphis projects was already in design, they could be grandfathered in, Williamson said.

All the projects will have both an educational and cost-cutting component to them, Williamson said.

The library, for example, will still receive a bill from MLGW for the power it used during the month. But the bill also will show a credit for the metered, renewable power the solar arrays generated during the month.

The library solar array would not generate enough power to cover the cost of the power the library consumes, Williamson said.

 -- Tom Bailey Jr.: (901) 529-2388