What is TVA?
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federal corporation and the nation’s largest public power company. As a regional development agency, TVA supplies reliable, competitively priced power, supports a thriving river system and stimulates sustainable economic development in the public interest. TVA operates fossil fuel, nuclear and hydropower plants, and also produces energy from renewable sources. It manages the nation’s seventh-largest river system to reduce flood damage, produce power, maintain navigation, provide recreational opportunities and protect water quality in the 41,000-square-mile watershed.
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When was TVA founded?
TVA was set up by the U.S. Congress in 1933, primarily to reduce flood damage, improve navigation on the Tennessee River, provide electric power and promote “agricultural and industrial development” in the region.
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Who benefits from TVA’s activities?
By providing wholesale power to 155 municipal and cooperative power distributors, and by directly serving large industries and government installations in the Valley, TVA supplies the electricity needs of about nine million people. It serves the public users of TVA lands and recreational facilities, and it provides economic development assistance to communities throughout the Tennessee Valley region. TVA also serves the nation by finding new and better ways to use our natural resources while protecting the environment.
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Which areas receive TVA power?
TVA’s power-service area covers 80,000 square miles in the
southeastern United States, including almost all of Tennessee and parts of
Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. (View an
interactive map of the TVA
region that shows the location of dams and power plants.)
Where do TVA employees work?
TVA employees are stationed at the following offices and plants:
- Main offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville, Tenn., and Muscle
Shoals, Ala.
- Regional customer-service centers
- Offices in seven economic development regions
- Watershed team offices in seven watershed regions
- Eleven coal-fired plants
- Eleven combustion turbine plants
- Three nuclear plants
- Twenty-nine hydroelectric dams
- One pumped-storage plant
- Other locations in the Valley and the nation.
How is TVA funded?
TVA has revenues of over $10 billion a year from sales to its three customer groups. It receives no public tax dollars but finances all of its programs, including those for environmental protection, integrated river management and economic development, through power sales and the sale of bonds in the financial markets. The total amount of outstanding bonds and banknotes represents TVA’s debt.
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What kind of public tax support does TVA get?
TVA no longer receives congressional appropriations to help fund its activities in navigation, flood control, environmental research and land management. Today all of its programs are paid for with power revenues.
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What kind of public tax support does TVA get?
TVA no longer receives congressional appropriations to help fund its activities.
Does TVA pay taxes?
TVA makes tax-equivalent payments annually to state and local governments in eight states. In fiscal year 2018, those payments totaled nearly $518 million. They are based on power sales revenue in the previous year and property owned by TVA in each state. Such payments make TVA one of the largest “taxpayers” in Tennessee and Alabama. In addition to the seven states and many counties in the Tennessee Valley region, the state of Illinois and two of its counties receive payments for coal reserves TVA owns there. Since 1941, TVA has made more than $13 billion in tax equivalent payments, with payments in the past 10 years totaling over $5.3 billion.
How does TVA generate electricity?
In 2018, TVA generated electricity through the following resources:
- Nuclear – 39%
- Natural gas and/or oil-fired – 20%
- Coal-fired – 19%
- Hydroelectric – 9%
- Purchased power (non-renewable) – 9%
- Purchased power (renewable) – 4%
How is TVA-generated electricity distributed?
TVA provides electric power to 154 local power distributors through a network of approximately 16,000 miles of transmission line and 3,600 miles of fiber. These local utilities deliver power to homes, businesses, and industries throughout TVA’s service area. TVA also sells power directly to various large industrial and governmental customers.
How do TVA’s rates compare with those of other power companies?
As of July 2018, TVA’s residential rate was 10.74 cents per kilowatt-hour, ranking 22nd best among the nation’s top 100 utilities. TVA’s industrial rate was 5.17 cents per kilowatt-hour, ranking 9th best among the nation’s top 100 utilities. Both TVA’s residential and industrial rates ranked in the top quartile among the nation’s top 100 utilities.
What does TVA do to ensure nuclear-plant safety?
Nuclear plants are designed to produce large amounts of electricity with maximum safety. TVA’s nuclear plants meet extremely rigid and demanding construction and operation safety standards that are established and constantly monitored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Without NRC approval, TVA nuclear plants could not operate.
To meet NRC standards and fulfill its responsibility to communities near TVA nuclear plants, TVA employs only highly trained, skilled professionals to maintain and operate the plants. Training for these employees is extensive. Earning a reactor operator’s license, for example, requires twice as much training in the classroom, on a simulator, and on the job as getting a commercial airline pilot’s license. And to keep their licenses, all nuclear-plant operators must be regularly retested.
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What approach does TVA take to the management of the Tennessee River and its tributaries?
TVA’s 49 dams are public assets managed in the public interest. Its operations and policies strive to maintain a reliable balance among the competing demands placed on the water and land resources. TVA’s integrated resource management ensures that precious water resources are not wasted. As water flows downstream, it’s used for drinking, fish habitat, navigation, coolant for power plants, energy to spin turbines, and recreation.
How does TVA protect the environment?
TVA’s watershed teams work with state and local communities to protect shorelines, conserve fisheries, and maintain water quality. In addition, TVA manages water flows to increase oxygen concentrations to improve aquatic habitat. Such activities support TVA’s mission of environmental stewardship.
In addition, TVA continues its aggressive clean-air program. From 1970 to 2018, TVA has spent about $6.7 billion on emissions controls at its power plants to help TVA generate power as cleanly as possible, consistent with efficiency. Emissions of nitrogen oxidesfrom the TVA system have been reduced by 94 percent below peak 1995 levels, emissions of sulfur dioxide from the TVA system have been reduced by 98 percent below 1977 levels, and emissions of carbon dioxide from the TVA system have been reduced by 47 percent below 2005 levels.
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What contribution does TVA make to the Valley economy?
TVA’s most important contribution is keeping power rates competitive. This helps attract industries that bring good jobs to the region. Low power rates also give Valley residents more money to spend on other goods and services.
TVA also supports economic development, primarily by helping communities help themselves. That assistance includes stimulating capital investment, creating jobs, improving business and workforce productivity, bringing communities into the Information Age, supporting small-business incubators, and promoting sustainable development throughout the region. In fiscal year 2018, TVA helped attract and retain over 65,000 jobs and over $11.3 billion in capital investment to the TVA service area.
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