With Focus on Hydro, Nuclear, TVA Opts to Close Two Coal-fired Plants

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Late last week, the board of directors of government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (Knoxville, Tennessee) voted to close two coal-fired plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. The move is indicative of TVA's attempts to decarbonize its power fleet as it focuses on renewable energy and its nuclear fleet.

The 870-megawatt (MW) Bull Run coal-fired plant in Clinton, Tennessee, will close by the end of 2023, and the 971-MW Paradise 3 plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky, will shut by the end of next year. Both plants are about 50 years and have been run only sporadically in the past few years. For more information, see Industrial plant profiles for the Bull Run and Paradise 3 plants.

Earlier in the week, President Donald Trump on Twitter urged the company to consider the role coal plays in U.S. power generation before voting. The two of seven board members who opposed the closure of the plants were both Trump appointees.

The company has been shifting away from the coal in recent years. Among TVA's other coal-fired plants set for dismantlement and demolition are units 1, 2 and 3 at the Thomas H. Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, Tennessee. Each unit had a generating capacity of 330 MW. The project is set to kick off later this year and be completed in early 2021. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In the company's late-January conference call regarding the results of its first quarter of fiscal 2019 (ending December 31), Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson said, "TVA generated more power from hydro and renewables in the first quarter than from coal, probably for the first time since the early 1950s. The higher rainfall totals were a part of that, but this is also another example of how much cleaner and more diverse TVA's power fleet has become in recent years."

Among TVA's plans to replace coal-fired power in its generation fleet is a series of extended power uprate (EPU) projects to the three units at the Brown's Ferry nuclear power station in Athens, Alabama. Each uprate adds 155 MW of generating capacity to each unit. Uprates to two units were completed last year. Johnson said, "The final EPU upgrade will be made this spring, bringing the total additional output at Brown's Ferry to 465 MW, enough to power more than 200,000 homes." For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

TVA also plans to replace the steam generators at Unit 2 of its Watts Bar nuclear facility near Spring City, Tennessee, which is the most recently completed nuclear reactor in the U.S. Over time, tubes within steam generators degrade, and the replacement project will allow Unit 2 to maintain its generating capacity of 1,165 MW. The project, which has an estimated total investment value (TIV) of $428 million, is expected to be completed in 2022. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

TVA also is expanding its nuclear ambitions. The company has submitted an application the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction of two or small modular reactors (SMRs) at a site in Tennessee. While the project remains some years off, the SMRs would probably have a generating capacity of 133 to 400 MW and would add approximately 800 MW to the grid. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

TVA also is a large generator of hydropower. While there is not a lot of scope for grassroot hydro projects in the company's service territory, TVA is planning several modernization projects to maintain and increase generating capacity. Currently underway is the modernization of units 2 and 3 at the Pickwick Dam hydropower station in western Tennessee. Each unit has a generating capacity of 40 MW, and the project will increase generation, improve efficiency and extend the service life of the units. Construction on the project began in the second half of 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2021. Voith Hydro Incorporated (York, Pennsylvania) is the contractor. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Two other hydro modernization projects are set to kick off this year. In Jaspar, Tennessee, TVA will modernize units 3 and 4 at the Nickajack hydropower station. The project will lift the generating capacity of the two Hitachi Kaplan generators by 6 MW. Construction is set to begin this quarter and be completed in summer 2021. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In Ruttledge, Tennessee, TVA will modernize Unit 1 at the Cherokee hydropower station. The project includes a generator rewind and is set to kick in the next few months, for completion by the end of the year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Several other TVA hydropower modernization projects are planned to kick off in the coming years.

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