TVA Meets Peak Demand During Cold

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ― Tennessee Valley residents set a single-day record for electricity use while keeping warm during this week’s arctic cold wave, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Wednesday.

Homes and businesses across TVA’s seven-state region used 703 gigawatt-hours of electricity on Tuesday, the most ever for a 24-hour, one-day period. TVA’s previous record was 701 gigawatt-hours on Jan. 8, 2010.

This came one day after TVA had its fourth highest “energy day” ever on Monday with 678 gigawatt-hours.

The Valley’s average temperature Tuesday never got above 21 degrees, and the average was just 4 degrees that morning when TVA’s power system experienced its second highest winter peak power demand in the public utility’s history.

TVA met those energy requirements by working closely with local power companies, customers who could conserve electricity on request during high demand periods and in-house and voluntary conservation efforts.

TVA also relied on its diversified portfolio of electric generating sources. To meet the 32,460-megawatt peak load on Tuesday, TVA received 28 percent of its power from coal-fired plants, 21 percent from nuclear plants, 14 percent from combined cycle natural gas plants, 11 percent from hydroelectric dams, 10 percent from conventional gas turbines, 2 percent from wind farms and 13 percent from power market purchases.

With temperatures warming and system demand coming down, TVA lifted power supply and conservative operations alerts at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday. The alerts had been in effect since the weekend.

Valley temperatures are expected to see highs in the 50s by Friday.

Households, businesses and industry can always find ways to save energy and lower their power bills through TVA’s EnergyRight Solutions programs and website in collaboration with local power companies.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.