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A look at the Tennessee Valley Authority's 20-year resource plan

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A look at the Tennessee Valley Authority's 20-year resource plan

The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors on Aug. 22 approved the final version of a 20-year integrated resource plan, or IRP, which aims to transform the utility's current generation fleet into "a more flexible power-generation system" and provide low-cost electricity to its distribution utility customers.

The IRP outlined plans to increase renewable and gas-fired combined-cycle capacity, with an emphasis on expanding solar generation. It includes the confirmed retirement of two coal-fired facilities, the evaluation of additional coal and gas retirements, and a review of nuclear license renewals.

Current capacity and planned additions

The authority, or TVA, has 39,203 MW of generating capacity, comprised of 35,686 MW owned and 3,517 MW contracted through power purchase agreements.

Gas fired-generation accounted for the largest share of TVA's generating capacity, at 38.5%, or 15,083 MW. Of that, 1,420 MW is contracted. Coal-fired and nuclear capacity each make up about 22% of TVA's overall capacity.

The largest single contract for gas-fired capacity is for the full 805-MW output of Capital Power Corp.'s Decatur Energy Center, in Morgan County, Ala., through the end of 2022. The IRP includes a wide range of additional gas-fired capacity, between 800 MW and 9,800 MW by 2038, depending on load growth.

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The IRP leans heavily on renewables, expanding solar capacity by up to 14,000 MW and wind capacity up to 4,200 MW by 2038, if cost-effective. Currently, all of TVA's renewable energy capacity is obtained through contracts, except for a 1-MW solar facility called the Thomas H. Allen Solar Project in Shelby County, Tenn., at the same site of a new gas-fired plant that began operating in 2018. and contracts another 261 MW of solar through power purchase agreements. TVA's largest single contract for wind power is for the full 300-MW output of the Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm in Livingston County, Ill., owned by Iberdrola SA subsidiary Avangrid Renewables LLC. The contract runs into 2030.

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Retirements

TVA's IRP includes the confirmed retirement of two coal-fired facilities, Bull Run and Paradise. The 872-MW Bull Run plant in Anderson County, Tenn., which has been online since 1967, is scheduled for retirement in December 2023. The last operating unit at the Paradise plant in Muhlenberg County, Ky., with an operating capacity of 1,017 MW and an online year of 1970, is set to be retired in December 2020. The closures will save TVA customers $320 million, according to an analysis done by the power authority.

The coal retirement options indicated by the IRP include the shutdown of the uncontrolled units at the 1950s-era Shawnee plant in McCracken County, Ky., as early as 2020, and the evaluation of up to 2,200 MW from the rest of the coal fleet as early as 2025.

The IRP also includes consideration of retirement of up to 2,000 MW of gas combustion turbines that have been in service for more than 40 years, with shutdowns as early as 2020. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, TVA's gas combustion turbines more than 40 years old are the Thomas H. Allen CT and Colbert CT plants, both operating since the early 1970s; Johnsonville CT, operating since 1975; and Gallatin CT, with four units operating since 1975 and four more added in 2000. The Colbert plant is in Alabama, and all others are in Tennessee.

Browns Ferry is one of three nuclear plants in the TVA portfolio, and in August the utility completed an uprate that added 465 MW to the three-unit facility. The plant began operating in the mid-1970s and its operating licenses expire in 2033, 2034 and 2036. The "no nuclear extensions" scenario of the IRP would have TVA decline to renew the Browns Ferry operating licenses for an additional 20 years.

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