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TVA board OKs overdue power plan, budget with $3.5B gas plant. See all votes

Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / The TVA board placed data centers in their own rate class and approved a long-term energy plan at a meeting in Memphis on Aug. 20, 2026. Board member Wade White is pictured listening to public comments during a board meeting in Guntersville, Ala., on May 21, 2026.
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / The TVA board placed data centers in their own rate class and approved a long-term energy plan at a meeting in Memphis on Aug. 20, 2026. Board member Wade White is pictured listening to public comments during a board meeting in Guntersville, Ala., on May 21, 2026. Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / The TVA board placed data centers in their own rate class and approved a long-term energy plan at a meeting in Memphis on Aug. 20, 2026. Board member Wade White is pictured listening to public comments during a board meeting in Guntersville, Ala., on May 21, 2026.

By Daniel Dassow 9 min read

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public utility in the U.S., plans to invest $13 billion over the next three years to maintain and expand its grid, according to a budget approved by the board Thursday.

The expansion includes a $3.5 billion gas plant TVA is planning to build in the northern part of its service territory by 2032, officials said. TVA already has more than 3,600 megawatts worth of gas plants under construction, enough to power more than 2 million homes as demand rises.

The gas plant will replace plans for a 900-megawatt plant in Cheatham County outside Nashville that TVA canceled last year after facing an opposition campaign led by country singer John Rich.

At the quarterly meeting in Memphis, the board approved a overdue plan for meeting power demand through 2040. The final plan shows TVA may more than double its capacity of gas plants by 2040 while keeping its coal-fired plants operating past their previously planned retirements.

TVA began working on the plan in 2023, but its approval was delayed when President Donald Trump fired several members from the board last year, leaving it unable to conduct regular business.