TVA And Energy

TVA helps make the Tennessee Valley a better place to live through its work in energy, the environment, and economic development.  As the nation’s largest public power provider, TVA delivers reliable and competitively priced electric power that gives businesses and families in the region more opportunity to prosper. 

• TVA’s power system is one of the most reliable and efficient in the nation, and it pays its own way, receiving no taxpayer dollars.
• In fiscal year 2008, TVA sold more than 176 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and earned revenue of more than $10.4 billion – an 11.3 percent increase from 2007.
• TVA provides world-class service at the lowest feasible cost.
  • TVA residential rates are below the national average.
• In 2008, TVA’s transmission system delivered power to customers with 99.999 percent reliability for the ninth year in a row.
• TVA has a strong commitment to energy conservation programs that help consumers use energy wisely.
• In May 2008, the TVA Board approved principles promoting greater reliance on energy efficiency, demand response measures, and renewable energy resources to help meet demand on the TVA power system.
• In the summer of 2009, TVA will conduct meetings to gather public input on power sources. The input will support development of a new 20-year Integrated Resource Plan and a sustainable natural resource management plan.
• TVA has joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and others in a proposed comprehensive solar-energy and economic-development program called the Volunteer State Solar Initiative.  If approved by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Tennessee General Assembly, the initiative will use up to $62.5 million in federal American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funds to advance job creation, education, research and renewable-power production in Tennessee.

Fossil Power

• TVA’s power production portfolio includes 11 coal-fired power plants that represent a combined 14,469 megawatts of net summer dependable capacity.
• In 2008, the fossil fleet generated nearly 98.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, accounting for about 62 percent of TVA’s generation in 2008. Five coal-fired power plants set all-time records for having all their units in service.
• TVA invested $274 million in 2008 as part of an ongoing $5.5 billion program to reduce emissions from its fossil plants.
  • TVA has installed various emission controls on all 59 coal-fired units, including selective catalytic reduction technology on 21 of its units to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions.
• TVA has reduced sulfur-dioxide emissions by 84 percent since 1977 and has reduced nitrogen-oxide emissions during the summer ozone season by 82 percent since 1995.
• Additions to TVA’s natural gas-fired combustion turbine fleet over the past two years have added 3,200 megawatts of dependable summer capacity to the TVA system. 
• In the summer of 2008, TVA’s combustion-turbine fleet achieved a reliability record of better than 99 percent.
• A four-unit site in Brownsville, Tennessee, purchased in April 2008, added 474 megawatts of summer peaking power capacity.
• The Southaven Combined Cycle Plant in DeSoto County, Mississippi, also added in April 2008, provides an additional 792 megawatts of summer peaking capacity. 
• In May 2009, the TVA Board approved construction of an 880-megawatt gas-fired power plant in northeast Tennessee.

Nuclear Power

• TVA operates six nuclear units at three sites with a combined net summer capability of 6,671 megawatts. These units generated nearly 51.4 billion kilowatt-hours in 2008, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2007.
  • TVA’s nuclear units provided about 33 percent of TVA power in 2008.
• In its second year since restart, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1 continued to be an important addition to the power system, saving TVA’s customers about $800 million in purchased-power costs.
• TVA has resumed construction of Watts Bar Unit 2 near Spring City, Tennessee, that is scheduled to begin service by 2013.
• TVA continues to pursue NRC approval to build and operate two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Bellefonte site. The application was developed as part of NuStart consortium efforts to demonstrate the streamlined construction and operating license process.
• In March 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reinstated the construction permits for Bellefonte Nuclear Units 1 and 2 in north Alabama – a step requested by TVA as it explores the option of completing the units to meet future demand.  Any decision to complete the plant would be made by the TVA Board.

Hydro Power

• The TVA hydro system consists of 113 units at 29 hydroelectric dams and one pumped-storage plant with a combined summer net generating capacity of 5,500 megawatts.
• In the second-driest year on record in the Tennessee Valley, TVA’s hydro system generated nearly 6.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in fiscal year 2008, which was about 4 percent of total generation and 50 percent of normal.  Due to a lessening of drought conditions in the Valley region, hydro generation for the first half of fiscal year 2009 was about 60 percent higher than during the first half of 2008.

Clean and Renewable Energy

• In 2008, approximately 37 percent of TVA’s generation was from clean energy sources. TVA defines clean energy as low or zero carbon emitting resources including renewables, nuclear and demand reduction. TVA projects that low and zero carbon emission sources will comprise at least 50 percent of its generation portfolio by 2020.
• TVA defines renewable energy as generation that is sustainable and often naturally replenished. TVA has about 3,900 megawatts of renewables comprised of conventional hydro, wind, solar, methane, and biomass co-firing.
• In 2008, the TVA Board approved the purchase of up to 2,000 megawatts of clean and renewable energy by 2011. TVA issued a request for proposals for clean and renewable energy purchases, and the proposals received are being evaluated.
• TVA’s Green Power Switch program offers consumers a choice to buy renewable energy. The program has more than 12,000 residential and 500 business subscribers. TVA’s Expanded Generation Partners program gives homeowners and businesses an opportunity to own and generate their own renewable energy, which TVA buys at a premium price.
• In 2008, the TVA Board approved Energy Efficiency and Demand Response guiding principles that seek to slow the growth of energy demand by providing opportunities for residential, business, and industrial energy efficiency. Under these principles, TVA’s goal is to reduce the growth in peak demand by up to 1,400 megawatts by 2012.
• TVA conducts research which addresses intermittency, cost, and sustainability issues associated with clean and renewable energy technologies.

 

 

Page Updated June 24, 2009