Case File · Obion County, Tennessee
100 MW. Rural West Tennessee.
Zero organized opposition.
Obion County, TN — Origis Energy Skyhawk Solar, TVA Green Invest, Google PPA. Announced 2020, COD April 2023. Voluntary leases. PILOT tax revenue. Corporate offtake that muted every “who benefits” question before it was asked.
RealClear would have scored this site 72/100 — a clear go, with a small deduction for emerging Tennessee solar opposition in other counties.
100 MW
Capacity
Obion Co., TN
Location
Origis
Developer
Google (TVA)
Offtaker
Apr 2023
COD
$23M+$31M
Local Impact
Obion County, Tennessee
~2.5 years from announcement to commercial operation.
2020
Skyhawk Solar announcement
Origis Energy announces the 100 MW Skyhawk Solar project in Obion County, rural West Tennessee. Voluntary landowner lease agreements executed with agricultural parcel owners. Local economic development framing from day one — construction impact, lifetime local benefits, and county PILOT tax revenue.
2020—2022
TVA Green Invest PPA — Google as anchor offtaker
Power purchase agreement structured through TVA Green Invest, TVA's corporate renewable procurement program. Skyhawk Solar's output allocated to Google's Clarksville, TN and Hollywood, AL data centers as part of Google's carbon-free power commitment. Amazon, Meta, and Facebook have executed similar TVA Green Invest arrangements elsewhere in the footprint.
Jul 2022
Construction start
Origis groundbreaking in Obion County. $23M in construction-period local economic impact documented — labor, equipment, materials, local vendors. Minimal permitting friction: Tennessee has no state siting board for utility-scale solar, and Obion County zoning approved the project at the county level.
Apr 2023
Commercial operation date (COD)
Skyhawk Solar reaches commercial operation on schedule. $31M in projected lifetime local benefits — PILOT payments to Obion County schools and fire services, ongoing landowner lease payments, property tax base contribution. Google begins receiving carbon-free power attribution through the TVA Green Invest PPA.
The Approval Structure
County Zoning + PILOT + Lease
Tennessee has no state siting board for utility-scale solar. Skyhawk Solar cleared three gates: Obion County zoning approval, a PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) structure with Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire's office, and voluntary landowner lease agreements. No eminent domain. No state-level preemption battle. Three-way approval with all parties aligned.
The Offtake Structure
TVA Green Invest + Google PPA
Skyhawk's output flows through TVA Green Invest — TVA's corporate renewable procurement framework — to Google's Clarksville, TN and Hollywood, AL data centers. This corporate PPA structure reframes the project as economic development serving a named corporate buyer, not as utility rate impact on local ratepayers. That framing is the single strongest community-acceptance tool in Southeastern utility-scale solar.
The Community Posture
Rural West Tennessee — Welcoming
Obion County is rural agricultural West Tennessee. Economic development projects with local lease income, construction jobs, and PILOT revenue distribution to schools and fire services start from a welcoming baseline. No organized opposition groups surfaced in the project record. This is not universal in Tennessee — Franklin and Lincoln counties have seen solar opposition emerge — but Obion's posture was clear from announcement.
The Local Economic Impact
$23M Construction + $31M Lifetime
Origis documented approximately $23M in construction-period local economic impact plus approximately $31M in lifetime local benefits through PILOT payments, landowner leases, and property tax contribution. These figures are the baseline narrative every utility-scale solar project should be able to produce before the first county commission meeting — and Skyhawk had them in the announcement.
Key Decision Makers & Stakeholders
The people who aligned this project's approval structure.
Jeff Lyash
TVA President & CEO
Tennessee Valley Authority
Documented Record
Led TVA Green Invest framework enabling corporate offtake that muted 'who benefits' opposition.
The TVA Green Invest framework is the structural reason Skyhawk worked. Lyash's TVA positioned corporate buyers — Google, Amazon, Meta, Facebook — as the offtakers for new-build renewable capacity. Local communities see corporate economic development, not utility rate impact. That reframing is worth more than any individual project approval.
Guy Vanderhaegen
Origis Energy CEO
Origis Energy — Developer
Documented Record
Executed landowner lease agreements voluntarily. Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire's office coordinated PILOT.
Origis's playbook in Obion — voluntary leases, county-coordinated PILOT, local economic impact documented up front — is the template for utility-scale solar in the Southeast. Voluntary leases in particular neutralize the eminent-domain narrative that fuels opposition in other jurisdictions. This was site selection informed by community structure, not just solar irradiance.
Amanda Peterson Corio
Head of Energy, Google
Google — Corporate Offtaker
Documented Record
Google carbon-free power commitment drove TVA Green Invest procurement for Clarksville + Hollywood data centers.
Google's 24/7 carbon-free power commitment is what makes the Skyhawk PPA economically viable at scale. Google's data center expansion in Clarksville, TN and Hollywood, AL required matching clean-power procurement. TVA Green Invest provided the vehicle. Skyhawk provided the megawatts. The chain of intent runs from corporate sustainability commitment all the way to a 100 MW solar array in a rural West Tennessee county.
Before & After
Pre-construction score vs. post-COD score.
2020 — Announcement
Tennessee has no state siting board for utility-scale solar. County-level zoning + TVA PPA + voluntary landowner leases = three-way approval structure. Rural agricultural West Tennessee welcoming of economic development.
2023 — Operational
COD achieved on schedule. $23M construction impact + $31M lifetime local benefits. Minor deduction: Tennessee solar opposition is emerging in other counties (Franklin, Lincoln) so rural welcome is not universal.
“What if you knew — before the first county commissioner meeting — exactly which framing muted the ‘who benefits’ question?”
The Pre-Filing Intelligence
What RealClear finds in Obion County.
Before a landowner letter is mailed. Before a PILOT is negotiated. Before the first commissioner hears “TVA Green Invest.”
Site Analysis
Skyhawk Solar — 100 MW
Obion County, Tennessee
Approval Pathway
Offtake Structure
Land Control
Opposition Risk
Structural Flag
TVA Green Invest corporate offtake reframes the project as economic development — Google buys the power, Obion County keeps the jobs, PILOT revenue, and lease payments. The “who benefits” question answers itself.
Applicant Strategy
Lead community engagement with the PILOT + voluntary lease package from day one. Name the corporate offtaker early. Do not let the project be framed as utility rate impact — this is corporate clean-power procurement with local economic benefit.
Recommendation
FAVORABLE. Rural West Tennessee welcome + TVA Green Invest PPA structure + voluntary leases + PILOT revenue distribution = strongest-available community-acceptance framing for utility-scale solar in the Southeast.
Decision Framework
Three rules for Southeastern utility-scale solar.
Extracted from the Skyhawk record and cross-checked against adjacent Tennessee solar outcomes.
01
If screening Tennessee utility-scale solar
County-level zoning is the primary gate. No state siting board. TVA Green Invest PPA structure (corporate offtake) is the strongest community-acceptance framing — solar serves Google/Amazon/Meta, not local ratepayers.
02
If facing rural opposition
Voluntary landowner leases (vs. eminent domain) and PILOT tax revenue distribution to schools/fire are the community-benefits baseline. Obion succeeded because both were in place from announcement.
03
Pattern: Corporate PPA structure defuses local opposition
Solar projects serving local utilities often trigger “why should we sacrifice farmland for their power?” opposition. Corporate PPAs (Google, Amazon, Meta offtake) reframe the project as economic development — corporate buyer, local jobs, local tax revenue.
The lesson from Skyhawk Solar:
Corporate PPA structure + voluntary leases + PILOT revenue distribution is not a marketing package. It is the structural reframing that determines whether a rural community treats a 100 MW solar project as unwanted industrial intrusion or as inbound economic development. Skyhawk had all three before the first public meeting.
Frame the project before the community frames it for you.
Intelligence Brief
How RealClear built this assessment.
Every feasibility score is backed by a traceable intelligence trail — real articles, real officials, real patterns.
News Articles Indexed
Key Officials Profiled
Comparable Projects Approved
Opposition Groups Tracked
Event Timeline
Key milestones in the entitlement journey
2020
Origis Energy announces 100 MW Skyhawk Solar in Obion County, TN
2020–2022
TVA Green Invest PPA structured with Google as anchor offtaker (Clarksville TN + Hollywood AL data centers)
Jul 2022
Construction start — $23M in construction-period local economic impact
Apr 2023
Commercial operation (COD) — on schedule, ~2.5 years announcement to COD
2020
Origis Energy announces 100 MW Skyhawk Solar in Obion County, TN
2020–2022
TVA Green Invest PPA structured with Google as anchor offtaker (Clarksville TN + Hollywood AL data centers)
Jul 2022
Construction start — $23M in construction-period local economic impact
Apr 2023
Commercial operation (COD) — on schedule, ~2.5 years announcement to COD
Key Actors
Decision-makers and their positions
Origis Energy
Developer
Executed voluntary landowner leases and coordinated PILOT structure with Obion County Mayor's office before the project entered any public commission debate
Tennessee Valley Authority
PPA Counterparty via TVA Green Invest
The TVA Green Invest framework is the structural reason corporate PPAs land cleanly in the Tennessee Valley — corporate buyer, not local ratepayer, becomes the offtaker
Corporate Offtaker
24/7 carbon-free power commitment drove procurement for Google's Clarksville TN and Hollywood AL data center loads
Jurisdiction Pattern
What history tells us about this jurisdiction
Approval Rate
Tennessee utility-scale solar with TVA Green Invest corporate PPA structure has a strong approval record across the TVA footprint
Recent Shifts
Solar opposition is emerging in other Tennessee counties (Franklin, Lincoln) where corporate PPA framing was not established early — Obion's welcoming posture is not universal
Key Insight
Tennessee has no state siting board for utility-scale solar. County-level zoning is the primary gate, and TVA Green Invest corporate PPAs are the single strongest community-acceptance framing available in the Southeast.
Intelligence compiled from 6 news articles, Origis Energy completion releases, TVA Green Invest program documentation, and Obion County economic development records
Primary Source Documents
6 DocumentsEvery finding cited to the source. Click any document to preview it directly.
Frame Your Project Before the Community Does
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