Origis Energy is the First Contributor in the Campaign To Raise Funds to Update Energy Gallery at DPA

Discovery Park of America and Origis Energy executives celebrate the completion of Skyhawk Solar, a 100 MW clean energy facility in Obion County, TN. Pictured L to R: Mary Nita Bondurant, Clare Saum and Scott Williams with Discovery Park. Glenna Wiseman with Origis Energy.

Discovery Park of America announced to-day that Origis Energy has contributed $50,000 toward a campaign that will raise money to up-date the museum and park’s Energy Gallery.
In April, Origis Ener-gy, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Google and Excelsior Energy Capital celebrated the completion of Skyhawk Solar, a 100 MW (MWac) project in Obion Coun-ty located just minutes from Discovery Park.
Skyhawk Solar was developed under the TVA Green Invest pro-gram and contributes to TVA’s continued push to grow clean energy in its seven-state service territory.
“Since Discovery Park’s Energy Gallery was first designed more than a decade ago, much progress has been made in the energy sector, in-cluding creating low-cost, clean, reliable, re-newable energy,” said Scott Williams, the mu-seum’s president and CEO. “While there are many advancements, there seems to be a gap in helping the public understand the science behind and the impor-tance of new initiatives like solar farms. We plan to create an exhib-it that changes that for our 250,000 plus annual visitors.”
Natacha Standaert, Origis Energy Founda-tion Manager, said “Ori-gis is very pleased to support the educational work at Discovery Park. Helping young people and their families un-derstand how clean energ y projects are shaping environmen-tal and economic gains in the communities in which they are locat-ed is important. This knowledge will spark curiosity, contribute to a better understanding of the changing energy industry and helps stu-dents identify new ca-reer paths. The platform Discovery Park has cre-ated reaches thousands of families from a wide area around Skyhawk Solar. We invite others to join us in supporting the updated Energy Gal-lery initiative.”
This new initiative is just one of several ways Discovery Park is help-ing visitors explore the world around them. In March 2022, four electric vehicle (EV) charging stations were unveiled, allowing visitors to charge their vehicles while visiting the mu-seum. The most recently opened permanent ex-hibit was “AgriCulture: Innovating for Our Sur-vival.”
It tells the story of farming innovation in the past, present—and especially—future.
Another new perma-nent exhibit opening No-vember 10, 2023, “Duck, Duck, Goose: Waterfowl of the Mississippi Fly-way,” will include much about the importance of conserving, restoring and managing wetlands and habitats for North America’s waterfowl.
Fundraising and re-search for the updated Energy Gallery has be-gun now, and the new exhibit will open at Discovery Park in early 2025.
To partner with Dis-covery Park on this ex-hibit or for more infor-mation, email Mary Nita Bondurant at mbondu-rant@discoveryparko-famerica.com or call 731-676-3556.