The TVA Board on Monday approved staff recommendations on "how TVA can help meet the Tennessee Valley’s growing demand for power and reduce the agency’s environmental footprint through cleaner, more energy-efficient opportunities."

An Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Plan, a Renewable and Clean Energy Assessment and an Environmental Policy were approved at the board meeting in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

These approved proposals reflect public comment TVA has received since the recommendations were first presented at the April Board meeting in Knoxville, officials said.

The May 19 Muscle Shoals meeting also honored TVA’s 75th anniversary. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the TVA Act on May 18, 1933.

“This Diamond Anniversary is a great milestone for TVA and the work TVA does on behalf of the people of the Tennessee Valley,” TVA Chairman Bill Sansom said. “On behalf of the Board, we are honored and humbled to be able to serve this remarkable organization. And we are proud to carry on the legacy of so many men and women of TVA over the past 75 years.”

The Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Plan seeks to slow the current rate of growth in the region’s power demand by providing opportunities for residential, business and industrial consumer groups to use energy more efficiently. In the short term, the plan proposes reducing the growth in peak demand by up to 1,400 megawatts – more than the amount generated by one nuclear power unit – by the end of the 2012 fiscal year.

The Renewable and Clean Energy Assessment strives to add clean energy resources to TVA’s generating mix to help reduce carbon emissions while minimizing costs and maintaining a reliable power supply. The assessment proposes to review TVA’s generation mix and identify a road map for pursuing additional renewable and clean energy supply in the region.

The Environmental Policy provides a framework for continuing to reduce TVA’s environmental footprint by reducing environmental impacts from operations and evaluating the environmental, economic and sustainable aspects of every generating resource used by TVA.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said, “With input from our customers and the public, we have identified ambitious goals for increasing our energy efficiency across TVA’s entire power production and delivery process. The renewable energy assessment recommends consideration of different sources of renewable energy and a reduction in carbon intensity in TVA’s generation mix, along with additional energy conservation by everyone who uses electricity.

"In alignment with an Environmental Policy, our Energy Efficiency, Renewable and Clean Energy initiatives, TVA will strive to have at least 50 percent of its generation portfolio be from low-carbon and zero-carbon sources by 2020."

The TVA board held public listening sessions on energy efficiency and renewable energy in March, and TVA conducted a series of stakeholder briefings throughout the region in April and May to receive additional public input on the energy efficiency and renewable energy proposals.

Reductions in peak demand and overall energy use would be achieved through four key areas – energy efficiency programs, demand response, end-use generation and reductions in TVA’s own energy use. The plan recognizes the need to make a strong, long-term commitment to cost-effective efficiency improvements, along with a broad education and outreach effort on the benefits and opportunities for energy efficiency.

In other actions, the board issued a proclamation honoring Alabama Congressman Bud Cramer, who has announced he is retiring. Rep. Cramer served 18 years as representative of Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District.

The board also issued a proclamation honoring TVA Director Skila Harris, who is retiring from the board, having completed her nine-year term. Ms. Harris is a native of Bowling Green, Ky.