Market-Driven Model Gives TVA Flexibility to Add Nuclear,Solar and Gas

摘要

It's no surprise that the Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA)has seen a rapid rise in gas-fired power since 2005 as coal plants have retired.What's unusual is the growing part nuclear capacity has played in creating TVA's more sustainable energy portfolio-a case study in how the federally owned independent corporation operates free of the political and environmental pressures seen in states like California and New York.When Congress created the TVA in 1933 in part to electrify the Tennessee River Valley region,it mandated that the authority provide reliable power at the lowest price.That directive still stands,meaning market forces are molding its portfolio rather than government fiats that can force ambitious decarbonization goals on utilities and keep uneconomic generation afloat.Perhaps the most striking trend is how rapidly TVA's coal capacity has fallen without being pushed.It simply can't compete in the generation stack on price or efficiency,and aging capacity is being mainly replaced by gas and new nuclear capacity,TVA spokesman Jim Hopson told Energy Intelligence.The TVA serves nearly 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six contiguous states.The rise of gas capacity in TVA's jurisdiction has been as spectacular as it has been steep,Hopson said.In 2005,when Henry Hub cash prices averaged $8.11 per million Btu,gas was a small part of the TVA's mix,providing just 595,000 megawatt hours per day.By 2018,gas was up to 32 million MWh after the shale boom sent prices reeling.