TVA Board OKs Up to 560 Megawatts of Peak Power Reduction

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Jun 10, 2010, 12:27 ET

JACKSON, Tenn., June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors agreed Thursday to extend a program that will allow TVA to reduce peak power demand by up to 560 megawatts.

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The board's action, during a meeting at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., will effectively reduce TVA's electricity requirements during periods of highest demand by the equivalent capacity of about three new gas-fired combustion turbine units.

In 2009, the TVA Board approved a Phase I pilot program that resulted in peak power demand reduction of approximately 160 megawatts. That savings resulted from a limited test program that pays participating commercial and industrial facilities to reduce the amount of power they are using at specific times. Equipment is installed at participating facilities that is able to remotely monitor the facilities' actual performance when called upon by TVA to reduce their energy load.

Phase II of the program that will be introduced to customers across the seven-state region would continue incentives for the original 160-megawatt reduction and add another 400 megawatts for a total peak demand reduction of up to 560 megawatts by 2012. Phase I has 99 TVA power distributors and about 230 facilities participating.

In other business, the board approved the Northeast Tributaries Land Plan for managing approximately 5,000 acres of TVA-managed public lands on Beaver Creek, Clear Creek, Boone, Fort Patrick Henry, South Holston, Wilbur and Watauga reservoirs. Under the proposed plan, land would be allocated into broad categories or "zones" that include Project Operations, Sensitive Resource Management, Natural Resource Conservation, Industrial, Developed Recreation and Shoreline Access.

The board also approved continuing the Regional Resource Stewardship Council. The panel advises TVA on natural resource management activities that are part of the agency's mission under the TVA Act. The council was formed in 2001 and has up to 20 members, including representatives from each of the seven states served by TVA, distributors and directly served customers, and other interested groups. Each council term is for two years. The council is currently in its fifth term, which ends in 2011.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 36,000 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA's service territory are below the national average.

SOURCE Tennessee Valley Authority