WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy announced plans Tuesday to help the Tennessee Valley Authority, headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., fund 84 transmission and distribution projects across eight states, including Tennessee, in an award totaling approximately $581 million.
The package includes $250 million in federal funding and about $331 million in applicant cost-share funding from TVA. The projects are expected to add approximately 2.5 gigawatts of grid capacity to help mitigate outages and create greater grid resilience. DOE said the investments will help ensure 2.58 million families and businesses have access to affordable, reliable power, and the project is estimated to support about 800 jobs.
The money comes through the Resilience Amplified: Multi-Market Grid Interconnection Initiative under the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program. Deputy Secretary of Energy James P. Danly said the investments with TVA will help reduce congestion, improve efficiency and make better use of the existing transmission system to lower costs for ratepayers.
The award builds on TVA’s earlier selection for the SPARK reconductoring program. Under SPARK, TVA plans to upgrade about 125 miles of existing transmission lines across Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina in a $159.7 million project expected to add approximately 1,900 MW of transmission capacity. Together, the two efforts represent nearly $741 million in planned grid investment and more than 4,300 MW of added capacity.
The decision matters close to home because TVA, a federal corporation and utility, has its headquarters in Knoxville, a role the city has held since the agency was created in 1933 and Knoxville was selected as administrative headquarters. TVA is also among the area’s top employers. DOE said final federal funding, project scope and schedules remain subject to executed agreements and environmental, permitting, regulatory and Tribal reviews.
