The Tennessee Valley Authority is looking to further expand their power capabilities in both Tennessee and Kentucky, knowing that the future will bring new demands for energy to the region.
According to an article in the Tennessean, President and CEO Jeff Lyash says the population in Tennessee is rapidly increasing, and that along with new industries such as Ascend Elements moving into their service area in Hopkinsville, they know they will have to grow to match it. In the past five years, the TVA has supported roughly $47 billion worth of economic development.
The plan is to work alongside the 153 local power companies that partner with the TVA—they’ll hold public meetings and studies to see how best to meet demand between now and the year 2050. The TVA expects to begin awarding bids for up to 6,000 megawatts of solar energy and storage of that energy.
They also plan to invest roughly $2.8 billion in transmission system improvements to better manage electricity flow. Their current plan is to become about 80 percent carbon-free energy by 2035.