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TVA wins $250 million DOE grant with 10 local utilities for energy projects

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TVA wins 0 million DOE grant with 10 local utilities for energy projects

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The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $250 million grant to the Tennessee Valley Authority and ten of its local energy companies, which will fund 84 projects aimed at strengthening the electric grid and building renewable energy.

The grant, announced Oct. 18 through the department’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, brings the federal grant TVA has won in recent years to more than half a billion dollars. It will help the utility add 2,400 megawatts of capacity to its power grid, transport enough additional electricity to power 1.4 million homes, and accelerate the development of solar and wind projects.

Although the federally owned TVA has not received direct taxpayer funding since 1959, it has increasingly applied for federal subsidies to meet growing electricity demand while reducing carbon emissions. Before the latest grant, TVA has already secured more than $300 million in federal grants, shared with local partners.

The $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, one of two massive spending bills — along with the Inflation Reduction Act — that will fuel the Biden administration’s energy agenda with a plethora of clean energy incentives have made.

The latest grant will help TVA shorten the interconnection queue, the line of energy projects waiting to be connected to the electric grid. It will allow the utility to create its first interconnection with the Southwest Power Pool, which operates much of the wind-rich electrical grid in the Midwest, adding 800 megawatts of wind to the TVA system.

Updates to the power grid could reduce the duration of local power outages by 94%, delivering $250 million in economic benefits, according to a TVA news release.

“This investment will improve the way we deliver clean energy while driving greater regional economic prosperity,” said Jeff Lyash, CEO and president of TVA. “This is an opportunity to work together with partners (local energy companies) to transform our systems and continue our mission to drive growth across the region.”

Union leaders celebrate the TVA clean energy grant

Another benefit of the subsidy is job creation. TVA expects the money will create about 800 jobs over five years, 99.7% of which will be union workers in the construction industry. Of TVA’s 10,900 employees, 58% are represented by unions.

Union leaders celebrated the news as a victory for middle-class workers in the Tennessee Valley.

“Electricity is America’s energy future, and the men and women of the (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) stand ready to work with TVA and local energy companies to reduce carbon emissions and create good jobs for the middle class across the region,” said Kenneth W. Cooper, International President of the IBEW.

The federal utility applied for $350 million in June from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, divided into two grants. It has not received the additional $150 million, TVA spokesperson Elizabeth O’Connor confirmed in an email to Knox News.

Environmental groups have discussed with TVA the low percentage of energy it gets from solar and wind, about 4%, and the rapid construction of natural gas plants to replace coal. The utility has pinned its best clean energy hopes on costly small modular nuclear reactors, which may require additional federal findings and which critics say are risky to ratepayers.

TVA, the nation’s largest energy supplier, makes money by selling electricity to 153 local utilities in seven states and directly to more than 60 large industrial customers.

It will share the latest grant, aimed at uplifting hundreds of underserved communities, with 10 local rural utilities in TVA’s service region:

  • Aberdeen Public Utilities
  • Amory Facilities
  • Athens Utility Company
  • Franklin Electric Cooperative
  • Mountain Electric Cooperative
  • New Albany light, gas and water
  • Okolona Electrical Department
  • Philadelphia Utilities
  • Water Valley Electrical Department
  • City of West Point Electrical System

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email [email protected].

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