TVA Starts Planning Next 20 Years

TVA says its future energy plans over the next 20 years will involve more renewable energy, like solar power. But coal power will continue to be a big part of their supply too.

As TVA first thinks about its next 20-year plan, MPB’s Cari Gervin reports on how the coal-ash catastrophe in Kingston might shape the way the utility moves forward.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has spent the past few weeks holding public meetings across its service area.

Van Wardlaw is the Executive Vice-President of Power Supplies and Fuels at TVA.

“And what we’re doing is looking at supply options out over the next 20 yours, and gaining public input on what the general public thinks we should be doing in regard to meeting their future energy needs.”

Those future energy needs include a lot of Mississippians. TVA sells power in 36 counties in Mississippi to over 300,000 households and 80,000 businesses.

Costs from the coal-ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee, last December have seriously cut into the public utility’s earnings. And as a non-profit, those losses are paid for by consumers in the form of rate increases. So some consumers are concerned about how much of a part coal will be in the utility’s future.

Wardlaw says TVA is committed to clean energy – but that does include coal.

“About 60 percent of electricity in this country is generated from coal. And so coal is a very important part of the national infrastructure for electricity. And I think the entire industry will be looking to the future to see what role it needs to play in the future and how to make sure that whatever role that is, that it’s environmentally sensitive.”

Ronnie Rowland is the general manager of the Prentiss County Electric Power Association. He said drove down to Starkville for the public hearing in Mississippi to make sure the agency considered the point of view of his almost 14,000 customers.

“I want them to have reliable power at the most feasible electric rate.”

There is one public hearing left, Thursday in Memphis. But anyone interested in the Environmental and Energy Future of TVA can submit comments online until August 14.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.