The Spring Hill Manufacturing plant started as the home of the Saturn Corporation. Now, it’s turning to the sun. General Motors has announced that the Tennessee facility will be able to run on purely solar power by late 2022 thanks to a tariff agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
The TVA Green Invest program is designed to help companies reach sustainability goals by partnering with local power companies to build large-scale renewable energy installations in the Tennessee Valley, which overs most of southwest and eastern Tennessee.
Photo courtesy of General Motors
As part of the agreement, TVA will supply up to 100 megawatts of solar energy per year, the equivalent of the amount of energy used by 18,000 U.S. households annually. GM’s energy will come from a solar farm in Lowndes County, Mississippi that is currently under development by Origis Energy.
The plant is the largest manufacturing facility GM has in North America, totaling 2,100 acres. One-third of the acreage is dedicated to farming and 100 acres is dedicated to wildlife habitat. The wildlife area has received Gold recognition and certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council.
GM has committed to sourcing 100 percent of electricity from renewables in the U.S. by 2030 at GM-owned sites. This latest agreement movies the current total to around 50 percent.
General Motors isn’t the only company committed to sustainable assembly plants. FCA recently released a report detailing its efforts. Toyota is building a hydrogen-powered city and Volkswagen is funding a purchase of land near its Chattanooga plant for conservation.
Currently, the Spring Hill plant builds the GMC Acadia and the Cadillac XT5 and XT6, as well as several engines for a variety of vehicles.
General Motors has invested $2 billion in the plant in the last decade.
