To continue providing affordable, reliable, resilient and increasingly cleaner power to our customers and the Valley region, TVA plans to invest $15 billion over the next three years—building new generation, enhancing the reliability of our existing assets and beginning studies for potential projects.
It’s a tall order. And one that brought together more than 200 leaders from TVA, local power companies and directly served companies on Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12, 2024, for TVA’s annual Valley Partner Meeting in Chattanooga, TN.
“As our energy system changes, we must adapt,” said Executive Vice President and Chief External Relations Officer Jeannette Mills. “To do this, we’ll need to work together, share information, and move in the same direction.”
During the meeting, TVA leaders shared strategic details about the direction of TVA and our public power model. Discussion topics included capacity and planning, transmission and economic development, environmental policy and the federal landscape. A common thread was the importance of collaboration.
“Open discussion and collaboration with our customers is critical as we forward to meet our region’s needs now and long into the future,” said Senior Vice President, Regional Relations Dan Pratt.
It was a message that resonated. Attendees, each from their own vantage point across the region, discussed the changing world of energy and expressed enthusiasm for the partnership opportunities that lie ahead.
“Our utility has truly embraced the public power model and it’s created all kind of success for us through the years, but we’re now beginning to talk about that success more directly,” said Terry Wimberley, Paris Board of Public Utilities. “Collaboration between LPCs and TVA is very important—and it’s important that our communities can see it.”
“We’re now selling our product in many different ways that we had not thought about before,” said Jarrod Brackett, Fort Loudoun Electric Cooperative. “The traditional way is not what folks always want now—but when you boil it all down, people still want safe, reliable and affordable energy.”
By winter 2030, we need to put in place about 6,000 MW of new dispatchable resources to enable asset retirements, integrate more renewables on its system, and meet forecasted demand with required reserves. Significant work is already underway to align and optimize TVA-wide generation and transmission planning philosophies and practices, even as external forces are changing the way we plan, design, build and operate our system.
“What you’ve heard throughout this meeting is that TVA is working to ensure the energy of our public power is expandable, sustainable and innovative,” said CEO Jeff Lyash in his closing remarks. “It’s the pathway that leverages the strengths of that model and our partnerships, as all the energy companies around us address similar challenges.”
For more information about how TVA plans to meet future energy demand, visit tva.com/irp and watch for the next release of TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan.