TVA gas power plant set to open in January 2024 - WHNT News 19
TVA gas power plant set to open in January 2024 | WHNT.com
TUSCUMBIA, Ala. ( WHNT) — The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Colbert County gas plant is set to operate at full capacity starting in January 2024.
Construction on the gas plant facility, located in Tuscumbia, began in 2021.
TVA Vice President of Major Projects Roger Waldrep told News 19 that this new plant will add enough energy to power over 400,000 homes.
“This project was identified in 2019 as a need for capacity,” Waldrep said. “Where it will benefit the valley is, it’s 750 megawatts for this coming winter that wasn’t available this past winter.”
Waldrep later said that the new gas plants will be able to change their power output as demand changes, allowing them to add more renewable energy sources as well.
“We can turn them on and off when we need them and when we don’t need them, and they ramp up and down on load rapidly for weather,” Waldrep said.
The plant is being built beside a property that was once used to burn coal for energy, which was shut down in 2016. Waldrep said changing from a coal plant to a gas plant will help the TVA reduce harmful emissions and other solid waste.
“In general terms, it is a higher efficiency unit,” Waldrep said. “So we put more of the heat energy to work than with traditional coal.”
Waldrep told News 19 that the gas power plant will begin operating at limited capacity later this year.
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