The Tennessee Valley Authority is inviting the public to join the environmental review process for a proposed grid resiliency program that would help qualified businesses build backup generation that TVA could also use to support the power grid.
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, TVA is conducting a Programmatic Environmental Review of the Resilience 360° Program. TVA’s PEA evaluates the impact of establishing the Resilience 360° Program in which TVA would partner with multiple vendors to provide backup generation in the form of on-site modular natural gas units or battery energy storage systems to improve commercial resiliency for qualified businesses. Under the proposal, vendors of natural gas units or BESS would install the units at host locations and would own, operate and maintain the units. TVA would enter into Power Purchase Agreements with vendors to have control or dispatch rights to the units when not in use by the qualified businesses. Each facility would generate anywhere from 500 kilowatts up to 25 megawatts of power. This PEA establishes general siting and environmental criteria to ensure that installations do not cause greater impacts than those addressed in this PEA.
TVA has prepared an Environmental Screening Checklist to gather information about each proposed site during the approval process. By completing a similar checklist for each location/host, TVA specialists can verify whether the siting decision is adequately covered by the PEA or if additional environmental review under NEPA is required.
TVA will accept comments through April 17 on the scope of the Draft PEA to evaluate the project alternatives, preferred alternative and analyze the potential impacts on the environment associated with establishment of the Resilience 360° Program and associated construction, operation and decommissioning of these units. Comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of the administrative record and will be available for public inspection.
Comments may be submitted online at www.tva.com/nepa, or by email to nepa@tva.gov. Written comments may also be sent to Carol Freeman, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, TN 37902.
TVA will not make a decision without public input and the completion of the environmental review process.
This project is part of TVA’s strategy to unleash American energy to power the region’s growth. Over the past five years, the region’s GDP has grown 2.9 percent, outpacing the national average of 2.4 percent. In addition, the region’s population has grown faster than the U.S. overall, especially in the working-age population and those under 20 years old.
TVA's current planning assumption includes building about 5,500 megawatts of new firm, dispatchable generation by 2029. Construction is underway at Shawnee, Ky. and the three locations in Tennessee: Kingston Energy Complex, Cumberland and Johnsonville. TVA has completed 1,400 megawatts of new gas units at Paradise in Kentucky and Colbert in Alabama. Construction will begin soon at New Caledonia in Mississippi, and other new generation projects are under consideration in Tennessee.