To no one’s surprise, the extended heatwave and high humidity that’s been bearing down on the region has resulted into very high demand put on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s systems—but they’ve held strong.
The TVA met a new high peak demand for summer this week, with a recorded 31,888 megawatts with a system temperature of 93 degrees on Wednesday, which TVA Spokesperson Adam May calls the highest demand so far this summer.
Tuesday’s wasn’t too far behind, with a preliminary peak of 31,563 megawatts at a temperature of 95 degrees across the system. That’s three peaks in the month of July alone, which means the TVA has exceeded their 2024 summer peak.
May says don’t worry though—the system has stayed strong during the ongoing heatwave, thanks to their expanded energy production and maintenance.
Even with those high peaks, they remain below the all-time summer peak that occurred in August 2007 with 33,500 megawatts, and the record-high demands for power that were set in both January of 2024 and 2025 of over 35,000 megawatts respectively.