TDEC invites Tennesseans to submit nominations for the 2024 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements by individuals, local governments, businesses, organizations, educational institutions, and agencies for successful environmental projects and conservation measures. The honors include ten categories: Agriculture and Forestry, Building Green, Clean Air, Energy and Renewable Resources, Environmental Education and Outreach, Materials Management, Natural Resources, Water Quality, Sustainable Performance, and Lifetime Achievement.

Self-nominations are encouraged. For more information about each category, judging criteria, and nomination forms, visit this link at the TDEC website. Nominations will be accepted until March 15.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Naval Support Activity Mid-South's (NSAMS) facility in Millington will receive $9 million in funding from the Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) program. The project will modernize infrastructure and add 4 MW of on‐site renewable solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and a 1.5 MW, 3 MWh battery energy storage system to provide continuity of critical mission activity during electric utility outages and enhance the resilience of the installation. The AFFECT funding will help reduce the site's overall energy consumption and steer the base towards net‐zero emissions by displacing 18% of the site's current grid-purchased electricity.

The U.S. DOE Solar Technology Office selected 24 projects to receive a total of $7.8 million through the Small Innovative Projects in Solar 2023 funding program. The program funds seedling research and development projects focused on innovative and novel ideas in PV and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP). Three Tennessee entities were selected for project funding:

The U.S. DOE Solar Technology Office (SETO) announced the winners of the American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize, a competition designed to increase the accessibility of high-quality time-series datasets for PV systems. Silicon Ranch Corporation, based in Nashville, won the grand prize for medium-sized PV systems and was the runner-up for large PV systems. These types of datasets can be used to build, train, and optimize models designed for PV system simulation, which can provide more accurate performance estimates and better system designs. The five winning datasets and their respective metadata will be shared through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) publicly accessible database, Open Energy Data Initiative, so that researchers and other solar stakeholders can readily utilize the data for PV model development, validation, and evaluation.  

Register for Part One of NREL and SETO’s Virtual Tutorial series on March 13, which will include an introduction to the datasets, a demonstration of how to access the data, and a look ahead at the lab tools that will be presented in Parts Two and Three.

6k Energy, a lithium-ion battery component manufacturer, will receive $50 million from the U.S. DOE Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains for its PlusCAM battery material production plant in Jackson. The funding will go toward the over $200 million construction cost for the plant, which will leverage the company’s proprietary UniMelt microwave plasma technology for cathode active material production. The facility is scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2024 and will have reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption, as well as 90% less water use than legacy production technologies.

Bridgestone Americas tire operations, headquartered in Nashville, will receive over $9.2 million in funding from the U.S. DOE Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office for a project in partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The project will focus on demonstrating a low-carbon ethanol-to-butadiene (EBT) process enabled by a novel catalyst developed by PNNL. EBT technology is important for near-circular tire production, where end-of-use tires can be turned into ethanol to produce butadiene, which can then be used to make new tires. At a pilot scale, the team plans to validate an EBT process that could reduce carbon intensity by up to 85% and achieve costs comparable to conventionally sourced butadiene.

The U.S. DOE Solar Technology Office (SETO) recently announced $6.5 million in funding available for the 2024 Small Innovative Projects in Solar Program funding opportunity. The funding opportunity solicits seedling research and design projects for both PV and CSP technologies and is designed to streamline the application process to encourage applications from early-career researchers who have never applied or been selected for a SETO project award. Diverse teams from universities, federally funded research and development centers, nonprofits, community-based organizations, state agencies, local governments, and solar developers are encouraged to apply. View the funding opportunity announcement for additional information. Applications are due March 6.

The Local Infrastructure Hub (LIH) was launched to ensure that all communities can access federal infrastructure funding to drive local recovery, improve communities, and deliver results for residents. The LIH Regional Cohorts Program is now open to assist local governments and their partners in the Southeast in accessing the historic levels of federal funding available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Administered by the Southeast Sustainability Director’s Network, the Southeast Regional Cohort Program has three-tiered learning and mentoring tracks.

Cohorts can provide 1:1 local government outreach and technical assistance and can also work with strategic local and regional partners in a way that will build long-term capacity for local implementation. The three support options are:

Applications will be accepted until mid-2024 or until funds are expended, whichever comes first. Additional information, including eligible applicants, is available in the Southeast LIH Regional Cohort Invitation and on the Southeast LIH Regional Cohort website.

EPA announced $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for the Community Change Grants Program. Funding is available for projects that deploy clean energy, reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input.

There are two separate tracks available:

Eligible applicants include partnerships between two community-based non-profit organizations and partnerships between a community-based non-profit organization and a local government, institution of higher education, or federally-recognized tribe. View the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the Grants.gov page for additional information. Applications are due November 21, 2024.

The 2024 Appalachian Carbon Forum, hosted by the University of Kentucky and Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), will take place March 7-8 in Lexington, KY. The two-day forum brings together a diverse range of thought leaders and innovators to identify and develop energy solutions for the Appalachian region. 

The forum will feature discussions on the representative needs, challenges, and opportunities unique to the area with participants from local communities, private industry, national laboratories, academia, and government located along the Appalachian mountain range. Sessions include topics ranging from clean energy solutions to emissions reduction and meeting power demands while working towards net-zero targets.

Register for the 2024 Appalachian Carbon Forum here.

The TAEBC Annual Meeting will take place in Franklin on March 26. This annual event allows TAEBC members, stakeholders, and potential members to gather to celebrate the growing advanced energy economy. Speakers include TDEC OEP Director Molly Cripps, who will speak on siting solar in Tennessee, and a representative from the East Tennessee Economic Council, who will host a panel on the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council.

Register for the TAEBC Annual Meeting here.

The Clean Energy Business Network and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy released the State of Clean Energy 2023. The 2023 edition includes an interactive infographic documenting the clean energy economies across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Tennessee’s Clean Energy Factsheet provides metrics on Tennessee’s clean energy business industry. The state ranked 14th in clean energy job growth with a growth rate of 4.4%, beating the national average growth rate of 3.9%. Additionally, the state had a 68% growth in renewable electricity capacity. A nationwide view of macro-trends in the transition of the U.S. energy economy is available in the 2023 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, produced by BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

Visit the TDEC Office of Energy Programs Website at http://www.tn.gov/environment/energy.

Past Monthly Newsletters: 

December 2023

November 2023

October 2023

For more information or to submit an idea for a future Monthly Energy Edition, contact:

Audrey Jackson, Communications Officer
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-917-6683 or audrey.jackson@tn.gov

OR

Alexa Voytek, Deputy Director, OEP Programs
U.S. DOE State Energy Program / Innovation & Transportation / Communications
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
 615-613-1096 or alexa.voytek@tn.gov

OR

Mark Finlay, Senior Energy Analyst, TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-772-6011 or mark.finlay@tn.gov

Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the State Energy Program Award Number DE-EE0009487

Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government.  Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.