TVA set all-time power demand record Wednesday
Jan. 27—As the coldest temperatures so far this winter hit the Tennessee Valley last week, the TVA's power generation system met the highest peak demand in the agency's over 91-year history.
Wednesday's preliminary all-time record peak of 35,319 megawatts came at 8 a.m. CT with a system temperature of 11 degrees, the Tennessee Valley Authority said in a news release, and TVA's power system remained stable throughout the event.
During Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022, TVA instructed its local power distributors to implement rolling blackouts in their service areas to manage power supply and demand to prevent a total blackout. TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler said the TVA Cumberland Fossil Plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee, had to shut down during this time due to maintenance issues, forcing TVA to curtail loads.
Since then, TVA has invested heavily into hardening its power production facilities. To prevent freezing of facilities and instrumentation, TVA added insulation, built enclosures around exposed and vulnerable equipment, and modernized heat trace technology, including installation of heated electrical cabling along pipes that prevents both the liquid inside and the critical instrumentation used to monitor the system from freezing.
TVA also has installed smart heat trace monitoring systems which send real-time readings to control rooms, allowing operators to respond to indications of potential freezing issues, TVA said.
"A lot of our plants have equipment that's exposed to the elements and so through the winter months it's important that we protect our instrumentation as well as the critical components, so they are not impacted by significant cold weather," said Eric Grau, TVA general manager for gas operations. "The natural gas fleet really provides a flexible and resilient bedrock to be able to bridge between our baseload fleet and our top-peaking resources."
In fiscal 2024, TVA says it has invested $430 million to harden its system and enhance the reliability and resiliency of its natural gas, coal and hydro generating fleet.
"We have continued to harden our system for the weather and learn from each extreme cold event," said Greg Henrich, TVA senior vice president. "We enhance our procedures every year to keep the power system stable and reliable during extreme temperatures. ... We also appreciate all of our partners in the Tennessee Valley — residents and businesses — who heeded TVA's call to conserve power during the peak morning hours on Wednesday."
TVA said that, because the region's population is growing three times faster than the national average, the authority is investing nearly $16 billion over the next several years to build additional generation and infrastructure. TVA said it is building about 3,500 megawatts of additional generation and has completed 1,400 megawatts and secured 800 megawatts of solar last year.
— eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435
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