The Tennessee Valley Authority could achieve completely clean and green energy generation by 2030 by making major expansions of solar, wind and energy storage and by encouraging its customers to do more with both energy efficiency and their own solar and wind generation, according to a new environmental study of Southern utilities.
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy says TVA could be completely carbon free by 2030, but to do so will require immediate action and TVA officials caution that may boost energy prices and leave TVA more vulnerable to power outages.
“TVA has a long history of being a critical part of America’s infrastructure and we’re calling on TVA again to lead in this battle against climate change and to get to zero carbon by 2030,” said Stephen Smith, executive director the Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
President Biden has called upon America’s electricity utilities to get to net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2035 with a new Clean Energy Standard for the industry. Smith said as a federal corporation created to be a model for the industry, TVA should get to zero carbon emissions within the next decade.
“We believe it needs a national mission like this to justify its existence,” he said, noting that TVA was created in 1933 to help boost an impoverished Appalachia by harnessing the power of the Tennessee River.