Congress should reform the Tennessee Valley Authority’s governance and energy planning as the federally owned electric utility faces growing demands for power, a renewable energy organization said in a new report.
Jonathan Geldof, a senior manager with the American Council on Renewable Energy who authored the report, noted in a Thursday presentation TVA is unlike other utilities. The TVA is a federal corporation overseen by a board of directors appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. That’s in contrast to utilities in other states that must go before a state utility commission to seek approval for new power generation or have a review of future power plans.
Like other utilities, TVA is facing a growing demand for electricity driven by data centers, new battery manufacturing and consumer electrification. The utility, which serves more than 9 million people across seven states, in January set a new power demand record of more than 35,000 megawatts amid frigid air sweeping across the South.
The utility has touted spending hundreds of millions of dollars on its power plants to enhance their reliability and resiliency in fiscal year 2024, an investment following rolling blackouts the utility had to impose in 2022 during a winter storm due to failures of its fossil fuel-fired power plants. The utility had to borrow a portion of its power from neighboring electric grids to meet the record power demand in January and also asked customers to voluntarily reduce power.
(READ MORE: Trump could reshape TVA board after Biden nominees stall in Senate)