Advocates weigh in on Tennessee Valley Authority’s long-term planning process as comment period closes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Dec. 11, 2024

CONTACT:

Leah McCord, Tennessee Projects and Coalition Coordinator, 865-433-0917, leah@appvoices.org

Molly Moore, Director of Program Communications, (828) 278-4076, molly@appvoices.org

NASHVILLE — Today the Tennessee Valley Authority concluded the public engagement process for its draft Integrated Resource Plan — a long-term plan for how TVA will produce electricity over the next 25 years. After releasing its draft IRP in September, TVA held 10 public open houses at different locations throughout its service area and two virtual webinars. The agency also accepted public comments on its website. 

TVA’s IRP is meant to outline how it will meet energy demand through 2050. The IRP impacts which energy projects people in the Tennessee Valley pay for, whether bills go up, and plays a role in household access to cost-saving energy efficiency programs. The IRP will have major ramifications for residents of the region, and, as a public utility, it’s important that TVA engage residents in its planning process. 

The federal utility’s draft IRP provides a range of options, some of which double down on fossil fuels by unfairly limiting renewable energy and proposing a massive buildout of methane gas power plants for the Tennessee Valley region. As the country’s largest public utility with 10 million customers, the Tennessee Valley Authority has a responsibility to lead a national transition to clean, affordable energy.

Appalachian Voices joined the CleanUpTVA Coalition in circulating a petition calling on TVA to take specific actions that invest in renewable energy and the health and safety of communities in the Tennessee Valley.

“Much of TVA’s draft IRP leans heavily on its claim that methane gas expansion is required to ensure the reliable delivery of energy to the Valley at a reasonable cost,” said Leah McCord, Tennessee Projects and Coalition Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. “Many experts and stakeholders agree that clean energy is more reliable and less expensive than methane gas, but their voices are not adequately incorporated into TVA’s process.”

“TVA has an opportunity to build more renewable energy and invest in energy efficiency to bring down costs for families in the Valley, protect our air and water and create more clean energy jobs for our region,” said Appalachian Voices Director of Public Power Campaigns Bri Knisley. “TVA’s IRP includes strategies with more carbon-free and distributed power, and these strategies were shown to have the lowest cost and risk. This demonstrates a clear benefit for residents and utilities in our region.”

Appalachian Voices and our partners at the CleanUpTVA Coalition are calling on the Board of Directors to instruct TVA planning staff to: 

• Make all comments on the draft IRP publicly accessible.
• Model an additional scenario that achieves 100% renewable energy by 2035 in alignment with climate science that maximizes distributed renewable energy and energy efficiency. 
• Prior to the final IRP, publish an interim report with results of additional sensitivity analysis and another 30 day period for public comments, which should influence final IRP outcomes.
• Narrow overly broad resource estimates to reasonable ranges that hold the utility accountable to their goals and ensure that TVA does its part to advance a renewable energy transition.

TVA’s process for involving the public in its IRP development compares poorly to other utility companies that are required to have more meaningful public engagement in their planning.

Unlike many of TVA’s neighboring utility companies, TVA is not regulated by a public utilities commission. Other utility companies submit their IRPs to the state’s public utilities commission, and the commission reviews the IRP by inviting stakeholders and third-party experts to give feedback. 

Utility companies across the country initiated the IRP process in the 1980s to include meaningful public input to create better outcomes for customers and the environment. However, TVA’s undertaking of its IRP is devoid of such input. TVA customers are deprived of a hearing from an independent public utilities commission featuring testimony from third-party experts that offers unbiased, credible assessments of TVA’s plans and underlying assumptions.