Thursday, February 12, 2026
CENTERVILLE
WEATHER
Last year, Silicon Ranch Corporation purchased a little more than 74 acres of land to build a Solar Panel Farm on North Lick Creek Road. Construction began on the solar panel facility in August 2025, and the company says the operation is expected to be online by this spring.
The company’s website describes a solar farm as “a collection of interconnected solar panels placed to maximize their ability to capture sunlight and convert it to electricity.” Photons from the sunlight help the panels generate electrical current. The panels turn with the sun as the hours of the day move past.
Dickson Electric System is the solar farm’s exclusive energy buyer, and they hope to pass some benefit on to the customers they serve in Hickman County, DES General Manager Darrell Gillespie said.
“We spend about $80 million every year on operating costs,” Gillespie said. “This project will save us between $250,000 and $300,000 annually, which works out to be about five percent.”
Gillespie said the Solar Farm in East Hickman will be generating about 5.5 megawatts of electricity at maximum output from 15,700 panels called modules. The panels are interconnected and able to be remotely controlled from an online server, even if an operator is miles away.
Silicon Ranch Communications Director Rob Hamilton said the goal is to sell the additional energy resources to power providing customers – in this case, Dickson Electric. In turn, utility rates can have backup provisions for energy and help regulate the cost of utility bills for area residents.
That is the benefit, Hamilton said, provided by the company that manages currently 180 other projects. The company also maintains that reliability, energy independence and cost savings can help keep utility rates from spiking.
“It makes the local grid more resilient,” Hamilton said. “The benefit for utilities would be be between Dickson Electric and the paying utility customers.
Providing additional energy sourcing for local utility providers is also a way to reduce the potential for local blackouts. A solar facility in Bolivar powered 300 homes during rolling blackouts by the Tennessee Valley Authority during a winter storm in 2022.
Solar farms can be a reliable source during colder weather when the local grid might suffer from the strain of more extreme weather. Gillespie said the panels are at optimal usage around 80 degrees or less.
Additionally, Hamilton says the cost is low for building these projects and they keep utility costs leveled out while boosting energy capacity. “We build projects at a price that is low,” Hamilton said. “Over the extent of the project, utility customers should see no fluctuations month to month as it provides some stability for the costs.”
As a taxpaying benefit, the projects generate more revenue for the community. “The county will certainly benefit from the taxes,” Gillespie said. “They can use it to fund whatever they need.” Gillespie agreed it should help keep utility rates lower for its 5,000 customers in Hickman County for the 30-year term with Silicon Ranch.
Hamilton said the facilities are built to last for about 40 years and the company employs regenerative practices to help maintain the site once its functionality has ceased. The facility will be owned and maintained for the entirety of its operation by Silicon Ranch. When a facility has reached the end of its run, Hamilton says that options might include repairing or replacing the panels at that point. Another option used in the past is to bring in livestock like sheep or cattle to graze the area.
The property deed shows the land was transferred from the county for $10 on December 6, 2024. The original cost of the land was set as $742,300, according to a prior listed property price.
Addressing community member concerns that such projects are an “eyesore,” Hamilton said the goal with the project in Hickman County is to leave some “vegetative buffer” in place, so trees can conceal the panels to some extent, though the site is fully visible from the road and entry point.
Another concern was whether company practices are environmentally or EPA friendly. Hamilton said the installation and panels themselves are made of non-toxic materials and would pose no negative environmental impact.
The site will not be a job producer for the area, as site construction is employing approximately 30 workers for the installation – mostly from North Carolina, and one person will be required to operate the facility once the site is online. No official launch date has been announced.
July 24, 2025
Hickman County Schools have a lot to smile about, and mostly recently, the smiles were generated from the results of last school year’s test results. Test scores received from the state show that English, math…
February 11, 2026
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