Clearloop Announces Two New Carbon Offset Projects in the Mississippi Delta as it Continues to Scale
Companies of all sizes will have the opportunity to invest in the first two solar ranches in Panola County, MS, as Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association partners with Clearloop to expand access to clean energy
NASHVILLE, Tenn. & BATESVILLE, Miss.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Clearloop, the cleantech startup acquired by Silicon Ranch, announced today that companies of all sizes will now have the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint by investing in the first two solar ranches in Panola County, Mississippi. Clearloop is partnering with Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) to help expand access to clean energy by focusing corporate offset investments on the construction of nearly 10 million watts of new solar.
“Panola County, Mississippi is a friendly, diverse, 35,000-strong community. It is equally divided by Interstate 55 with the Mississippi Delta to the east and the Appalachian Foothills to the west. We consistently pull talent from Ole Miss, only 15-minutes away. Due to an aggressive and comprehensive PreK-12 Workforce Plan, we’ve experienced exciting economic trends. We keep our arms around our existing businesses and industry, and together, we focus on the future,” said Joe Azar, Director of Economic Development for Panola County. “This partnership with Clearloop is going to benefit Panola County and its residents for years to come in a plethora of ways that I can’t wait to watch unfold. It will not only create new opportunities for our skilled workforce and entrepreneurial pipeline, but having this local source of renewable energy will shine a light on our community’s passion for innovation and excitement for future growth.”
TVEPA’s partnership with Clearloop expands access to locally generated renewable energy across the county for the first time ever while maintaining a cost-effective, stable price that TVEPA’s members have come to expect. The goal for these projects is to fund nearly 10 million watts by the end of this year in order to break ground in 2023 and have a brand-new live project by 2024. These projects are expected to help power approximately 2,000 homes in the Appalachian Foothills and the Mississippi Delta community.
“We’ve been providing electricity to our community for more than eighty-three years. Everything we do comes down to providing TVEPA members with safe, reliable, competitively-priced electricity. These solar ranches in Panola County will help us do that well into the future by diversifying our energy mix while supporting investment in the local economy,” said Brad Robison, CEO of TVEPA. “Normally, when we think of solar, we think of it in terms of energy production, but through this process, we have come to better appreciate the environmental and health impacts this project will have on the place that we call home. The economic development opportunities this will open up for our community and us is exciting, and we can’t wait to get started.”
These two solar ranches will not only reclaim 565 million pounds of carbon but also help more effectively balance the grid across the U.S. with renewable power, generate clean energy construction jobs, and create an investment in infrastructure, resulting in meaningful tax infusion in the community. By seeking outside investment from companies with a shared commitment to help decarbonize the grid while supporting local communities, Clearloop is pioneering a novel path for funding new projects in a mutually beneficial way for investors and communities.
“We created Clearloop for companies of all sizes to tackle their carbon footprint by expanding access to clean energy right here at home,” said Clearloop co-founder and CEO Laura Zapata. “This work would not be possible without the partnership of communities where the dollar invested in clean infrastructure can go further as an economic development tool. That’s why we’re so grateful to Brad Robison and his team at TVEPA, as well as Joe Azar and his economic development team at the Panola Partnership, for helping us usher in this investment. We’re excited for companies to reach their ESG goals by investing in this welcoming Mississippi community.”
Clearloop’s emissionality-based approach helps direct corporate investments to the most carbon-intense grids while also identifying communities where the dollar invested in new infrastructure serves as the catalyst for economic development and growth.
Given the increasing onus on both public and private companies to measure and report on carbon impact, Clearloop’s novel approach to funding domestic solar projects in areas most in need of clean energy and economic growth gives organizations with ambitious ESG commitments the added confidence in the impact of their investment.
Organizations interested in meeting their ESG and net-zero goals can learn more about purchasing carbon offsets from the Mississippi Delta solar ranches at https://clearloop.us/ms-panola/.
About Clearloop
Clearloop, a Silicon Ranch company, partners with companies of all sizes to meet ambitious ESG goals by reclaiming their carbon footprint, expanding access to clean energy, and decarbonizing the grid through the construction of new solar projects in American communities otherwise getting left behind. The two Panola County solar ranches demonstrate Clearloop’s rapid growth, taking the renewables pioneer from 1MW in solar investments to more than 10MW in just under a year. The company broke ground on its first carbon-offset funded solar ranch, a 1MW project in Jackson, TN, last fall; and recently announced a 1MW project in Paris, TN, funded by EV maker Rivian in exchange for renewable energy credits. Clearloop plans to announce a new project in the Appalachian region before the end of the year. To learn more, visit clearloop.us and follow on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
About Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association
Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association is an electric cooperative that serves over 28,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in nine north Mississippi Counties. As a not-for-profit distributor of electricity generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, TVEPA serves our member-owners, not profits. As a result, our rates are among the lowest in the Southeast and in the nation. Visit https://tvepa.com/ for more information.
Contacts
Media Contact:
Katie Jacobs
Quarter Horse PR for Silicon Ranch
katie@qh-pr.com
