TVA And The Environment

TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and a partner to the Tennessee Valley for progress and change. Through its work in energy, the environment, and economic development, TVA helps our region thrive and enables residents to enjoy a better quality of life by:

• Managing 650,000 acres of surface water, 293,000 acres of reservoir land, 11,000 miles of shoreline, and more than 100 public recreation areas in ways that help make the Valley a better place to live, work, and raise a family.
• Working aggressively to reduce our emissions so that air quality in the Valley continues to improve.
• Exploring renewable energy sources so our children and grandchildren can enjoy the benefits of clean and reliable power.

Recent Milestones

• TVA is committed to protecting the environmental resources of the Tennessee Valley.  In 2008, about 37 percent of TVA’s generation was from clean energy sources with low or zero carbon emissions. 
• TVA projects that low and zero carbon emission sources will comprise 50 percent of its generation portfolio by 2020, thereby reducing TVA’s environmental footprint by:
• Improving the efficiency of the existing power system
• Pursuing low-carbon generating technologies, such as nuclear power, and cost-effective renewable sources
• Promoting consumer energy efficiency and conservation
• In support of this policy, the Board authorized the purchase of up to 2,000 megawatts of renewable and clean energy by June 2011. TVA expects that almost half its power supply will come from clean and renewable sources by 2020.
• In partnership with distributors of TVA power, TVA offers incentives to increase the supply and use of renewable energy in the Tennessee Valley. Customers can receive $1,000 toward the start-up costs of qualifying renewable resources such as wind and solar generation.
• In 2008, TVA approved the Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Plan which seeks to slow the current rate of growth in the region’s power demand by providing opportunities for residential, business and industrial consumer groups to use energy more efficiently. In the short term, the plan proposes reducing the growth in peak demand by up to 1,400 megawatts – more than the amount generated by one nuclear power unit – by the end of the 2012 fiscal year.
• TVA has joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and others to create a proposed Volunteer State Solar Initiative, a $63 million investment to make solar power technologies more efficient and affordable.
• TVA is working diligently to restore conditions in the Kingston, Tennessee, community following an ash spill in December 2008 at Kingston Fossil Plant.  Under an order and agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TVA recognizes EPA’s role and specialized expertise in responding to large-scale environmental clean-ups and will work collaboratively with EPA on recovery efforts at the site.
• TVA has opened an environmental information call center to answer a wide range of environmental questions.

Air

• TVA has played an instrumental role in developing major emissions control technologies used by the utility industry today and is a leader in supporting actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• In 2008, TVA invested $274 million as part of an ongoing program to reduce emissions from its fossil plants.
• 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.
• TVA has invested more than $5.1 billion in equipment to reduce emissions and is in the process of installing another $400 million worth of controls by 2010. TVA could spend from $3 billion to $3.7 billion during the next decade to further improve regional air quality.

Water

• TVA’s integrated management of the Tennessee River system helps assure water for drinking, industrial use, and agriculture; for generating hydropower and cooling coal-fired and nuclear power plants; and for navigation, recreation, and aquatic habitat for plants and animals.
• TVA operates one of the most comprehensive river-system monitoring programs in the United States and works in partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to protect habitats for threatened and endangered species.
• TVA’s Clean Marina Initiative has certified more than 80 marinas that comply with water quality standards. The program has a 96 percent retention rate.
• TVA has installed equipment and changed operations at many of its dams to add oxygen to downstream water and maintain a more constant wetted habitat.  These improvements have helped aquatic life in more than 300 miles of river.

Land

• TVA regulates land use and development along the 11,000 miles of shoreline on the Tennessee River system.  A network of watershed teams respond to questions about the use of TVA-managed land and TVA’s Cultural Resources staff helps protect more than 9,000 archaeological sites on TVA-managed land.
• In partnership with public agencies and stakeholders, TVA develops comprehensive plans for the management of the public land around each of its reservoirs to minimize conflicting land uses and guide decisions on requests for use of public land.
• The TVA Board’s Land Management Policy balances the public benefits of TVA‑managed lands with TVA’s responsibility as a steward of the Valley’s natural resources.
• In carrying out its land-management responsibilities, TVA is guided by its mandate to consider the effects of its activities in such areas as land reclamation, public recreation, economic development, and wildlife preservation.
• TVA’s shoreline management policy, adopted in 1999, improves the protection of shoreline and aquatic resources while continuing to allow reasonable public access to both.

 

 

Page Updated June 24, 2009