The hottest day of the summer Tuesday pushed electricity use in the Tennessee Valley to the highest peak in August in more than seven years.
TVA said Tuesday’s peak demand for power reached 29,568 megawatts at 4 p.m., when the heat index across much of the seven-state TVA region topped 100 degrees, although the average temperature across the Tennessee Valley reached only 94 degrees due to scattered storms Tuesday afternoon and evening.
In Chattanooga, the high reached 100 degrees, with the heat index topping 109, according to WRCB-TV Channel 3.
TVA’s power demand Tuesday was the highest August peak for the agency since Aug. 1, 2012. But TVA spokeswoman Malinda Hunter said Wednesday the utility met the peak without any request or implementation of conservation measures other than TVA’s own internal suspension of most maintenance work on its power plants from 8 p.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Tuesday to limit the chances of any outages.
TVA has all seven of its nuclear reactors at full power and is relying on other output from its natural gas, coal, hydro and solar generators, along with its contracts for purchased gas, wind and solar power.