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Making good on its pledge to expand into clean energy while shrinking its reliance on coal, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is increasing its share of solar generation by a whopping 44% with new contracts announced earlier this month.
The biggest public utility in the United States, TVA has announced deals over the last couple of months for 484 MW of solar power plus 50 MW of storage—a massive increase over its current solar generation. “The seven-state federal power agency gets less than 3% of its power from wind and solar today, compared to 39% nuclear, 26% natural gas, 21% coal-fired, and 10% hydropower,” reports Greentech Media.
As power provider for Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, TVA “has also pushed ahead on closing uncompetitive and aging coal-fired power plants, despite opposition from the industry and the Trump administration,” notes Greentech.
Case in point: the recent closure of TVA’s Paradise Fossil Plant in Kentucky, a move that makes good on an April 2019 decision.
Though “a wind and solar minnow today,” writes Greentech, TVA’s long-range plans are big, with its integrated resource plan calling for the addition of “between 1,500 and 8,000 megawatts of solar by 2028, along with up to 2,400 megawatts of energy storage.” The industry newsletter adds that, “by 2038, TVA could see as much as 14 gigawatts of solar on its system.”