KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority said it will be receiving extra funding from the government to help boost grid capacity in the region.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced TVA was one of 10 power companies that would receive a piece of a $250 million grant from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program.
The program will fund 84 energy security projects to increase the availability of reliable, clean energy.
“We are excited that our coalition has been selected to begin negotiations with DOE’s Grid Deployment Office,” said Jeff Lyash, TVA President and CEO. “This investment will improve the way we deliver clean energy, while driving greater regional economic prosperity. This is an opportunity to work together with LPC partners to transform our systems and continue our mission of powering growth across the region.”
TVA said it anticipates the money will help add up to 2,400 megawatts of transmission grid capacity, reduce its solar interconnection queue, and create a connection between TVA and the Southwest Power Pool to tap into up to 800 megawatts of wind energy.
The money would also help create roughly 800 jobs over five years and reduce localized outage durations by 94%. TVA said the funding is critical because the region's population is growing three times faster than the national average.
“The sustained growth across the region calls for innovative solutions to add transmission and distribution capacity to benefit everyone we serve,” Lyash said. “With nearly 60% carbon-free generation, we know we can do more, faster. Working together with our partners, this GRIP funding will provide even more opportunities to better serve our communities.”