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As
a public power enterprise, TVA is uniquely positioned to develop, demonstrate,
and deploy new energy technologies for a better tomorrow.
Whether it’s testing cutting-edge power sources like fuel cells
and microturbines or developing award-winning innovations like a frostless
heat pump that conserves energy through efficient design, TVA’s
new Public Power Institute
(PPI) is always thinking about tomorrow.
The Institute’s
mission is to bring new ideas and technologies to the world of electric
energy by showcasing those that offer the most efficiency to consumers
and protection to the environment. Working from TVA’s Environmental
Research Center campus in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, more than 60 PPI scientists
and engineers use the TVA power system as a living laboratory for research
on energy-pollution reduction, sustainable and clean energy, industrial
ecology, and energy-use improvement technologies. In partnership with
EPRI and Valley public power providers, PPI develops, demonstrates,
and deploys the most promising of these green-energy systems.
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PPI
is using cutting-edge computer modeling and monitoring to locate
areas of high wind potential. It also continues to work with wind
turbine designs to decrease cost and maintain high efficiency.
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As an instrument
of public power, PPI bridges the gap between institutions engaged in
basic research and the marketplace, with its preference for tried-and-true
technology. “TVA is uniquely positioned to conduct full-scale,
commercially based demonstrations,” says PPI Director Anda Ray.
“People don’t want to invest a lot of money in setting up
a business until they see that the risk has been lowered. Through demonstrations
that use the TVA power generation and transmission system, we can close
that gap.”
While helping to introduce new technologies into the marketplace, PPI
also looks for ways to reduce or eliminate the environmental effects
caused by current methods of energy production, delivery, and use. And
it acts as a public power advocate, providing input on regulatory and
public-policy issues.
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Related
Page: Wastewater
Treatment Innovations
Breakthroughs
in alternative technologies
This frostless heat pump was selected as one of the winners of R&D
Magazine’s 1999 R&D Awards, which recognize the most technologically
significant new products of the year. TVA and the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory partnered on this project, which reduces outdoor coil defrosting
needs and heat operating costs.
“TVA’s
Public Power Institute represents a return to the original vision of
TVA as a proving ground for innovation. We see the Institute as a place
where TVA will seriously address the questions of energy and environment
in the future. TVA has an opportunity to provide leadership for the
nation at a critical time in the electric power industry’s history,
but this Institute must be bold enough to provide that leadership by
not becoming too ingrown and self-serving.”
Barbara Simpson,
Secretary and Treasurer, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
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