Utility Network Gives Nashville Grid for Business
Published May 16, 2008
Jeff Hite, a business recruiter for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, says the area's energy and technology infrastructure is a key part of his pitch.
When it comes to business development and recruitment, the utility infrastructure can make or break a deal. In the Nashville area, the groundwork is literally laid for success.
“When we have people coming for a site visit - or contacting us to find out about locations - technology and power come up pretty quickly in the conversation,” says Jeff Hite, director of economic development and business recruitment for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. “We always talk about our awesome transportation infrastructure, but people want to know about our energy options and technology setup.”
Thanks to years of planning by area utility companies, Nashville is ahead of the curve and stacks up well against other Southeastern cities on all fronts. Telecommunications providers work with the chamber to ensure that a new business is well connected for data movement, and the Tennessee Valley Authority puts its considerable weight behind energy concerns, as do the area’s natural gas suppliers.
“We have really good partnerships,” Hite says. “When people want to know specifics about power costs, we can involve TVA pretty quickly. In addition to being the power source, [TVA also has] some available incentives that can be pretty valuable for a project’s developers. We also are able to bring in the water and gas providers at that point.”
For its part, TVA operates an economic development arm and offers support to the chamber. With decades of exemplary electric service - 99.999 percent reliability for seven straight years - the agency is a major player in the region’s business growth, says Heidi Smith, general manager of global business and community development for Nashville-based TVA Economic Development.
“TVA is part of the chamber’s local and regional economic development team that recruits new industries and helps existing businesses grow,” Smith says. “TVA and local power companies provide utilities infrastructure and rates information of interest to a prospective company, including location of transmissions, substations and distribution lines, power generation sources, available capacity and rate options.”
Among the authority’s many other services are site location using a GIS (geographic information system)-based database; assistance for target industries such as automotive, plastics, food and distribution/warehousing; financial and technical resources including loans, economic research and conceptual design; and solutions for efficient energy use.
Support is also available from Piedmont Natural Gas, which often enters the relocation process at an early stage, says Kirby Lane, major account representative.
“We can tell [companies] what our availability is in an area, and since we cover a large part of the region, we usually have some service,” Lane says. “If our main isn’t right there, we look at what kind of load the company will need to serve it and work something out. We try to be business-friendly, so we look at the usage and try to find a way to serve.”
Add this solid industry support to the area’s edge in air, rail, road and water transportation infrastructure, as well as its convenient location allowing one-day access to much of the East Coast, Midwest and South, and it’s easy to see why major corporations choose the Nashville area for relocation and expansion.
“We have a lot of advantages early in the process,” the chamber’s Hite says. “When you break it down to telecommunications, transportation or utilities, we’re able to compete at every level. We build all of the infrastructure components into our presentations; it’s part of our everyday sales pitch.
“It’s a vital piece of the puzzle, and, overall, our entire infrastructure is solid and strong.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Brian McCord
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