TVA Transmission Lines Returned to Service from April Tornadoes

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Jul 14, 2011, 03:37 ET

STEVENSON, Ala., July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Tennessee Valley Authority placed the last two transmission lines, both from Widows Creek Fossil Plant, back in service 74 days after sustaining unprecedented damage due to severe storms and tornadoes in April on its power transmission system.

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"TVA strives to be among the nation's leaders in customer reliability," said Rob Manning, TVA executive vice president for Power System Operations. "The crews have worked days, nights and weekends to put the transmission system back together in time for the hottest summer weather."

The two-and-half-month effort to restore 108 transmission lines to service required 1.4 million pounds of steel and 275 miles of wire to replace the 353 transmission structures and transmission line that were destroyed.

"What they've accomplished is truly amazing," continued Manning. "Immediately following the tornadoes we identified the lines that could be fixed quickly and restored power to customers using these lines. In a week's time, 95 percent of the affected customer connection points were reconnected, yet only about a quarter of the structures were repaired. After a month, 102 lines were back in service."

The last two 500-kilovolt lines and three 161-kilovolt lines in north Alabama, were all back in service in early July.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states at prices below the national average. TVA, which receives no taxpayer money and makes no profits, also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development.

SOURCE Tennessee Valley Authority