TVA to invest $15B in system upgrades, including $100M for demand response programs
Utility Integration

TVA to invest $15B in system upgrades, including $100M for demand response programs

The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors announced plans to invest $15 billion over the next three years to build additional generation and upgrade the existing system. TVA says it is focused on meeting growing electricity demand while maintaining energy security and moving to a net-zero carbon future.

Over the past 10 years, TVA has invested $25 billion in existing and new generation. Currently, TVA is adding 3,800 MW of new generation, with three new dispatchable units at Colbert, which came online in July, and an additional 1,250 MW that is scheduled to come online in 2023 and 2024 at Paradise and Johnsonville. TVA is also working to add more than 10,000 MW of new solar energy by 2035 and is adding its first battery storage facility in Vonore.

On the demand side, TVA said $100 million will be invested in energy efficiency and demand response programs to help lower energy bills and offset 30% of new load growth in the next 10 years.

“It took us 90 years to build our current power system which positively changed the lives of millions,” said TVA president and CEO Jeff Lyash. “In the next 30 years, we will have to double or triple the current systems at a speed unlike any other time in TVA history to ensure we can continue to provide affordable, reliable, resilient, and sustainable energy to fuel the region’s economic growth.”

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During the decade before COVID, TVA’s seven-state region saw almost no electric load growth. But post-COVID, the region has experienced vast economic growth, fueled by several factors. TVA’s base power rates have remained flat during the past four years while it made investments in the power system.

In addition, the area’s population is growing at about three times the national average, it said. To ensure the region has the energy it needs to meet growing demand and economic development, the TVA Board unanimously approved a 4.5% increase in the effective rate. That translates to an average increase of about $3.50 on a typical residential energy bill each month, the utility said.

The need for funding to build new generation is not unique to TVA. Even with a rate adjustment, TVA says its energy costs remain lower than 70% of the nation’s top 100 utilities. For comparison, surrounding peer utilities requested or received $6.6 billion in rate increases from February 2022 through December 2023.

“TVA is not immune to cost increase, inflation, and supply chain challenges,” said Lyash. “We worked to minimize any impact on families while balancing our region’s growing energy needs, and these funds will allow us to invest in new capacity as well as invest in the reliability of our current assets.”

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