Tennessee Valley Authority looking to expand EV charging infrastructure

The Tennessee Valley Authority is launching a new initiative to expand the region’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Tennessee Valley is emerging as a key player in the development of electric vehicles. TVA and its public power partners are in a prime position to enable the broader adoption of electric vehicles.

“TVA is an industry leader in delivering low-cost, clean energy, and we intend to take a leadership role in electric vehicle transportation,” Jeff Lyash, TVA president and CEO, said. “According to the Environmental Protection Agency, traditional forms of transportation are a leading source of carbon emissions while a single electric vehicle can reduce those emissions by 8,600 pounds per year. TVA has reduced carbon emission by nearly 60 percent since 2005, and we have concrete plans to reach 70 percent by 2030. Actively supporting the electrification of transportation multiplies our own carbon reduction efforts and moves the entire region toward greater sustainability and economic opportunity in the future.”

In other news, the TVA board reported that TVA provided nearly 60 percent of the region’s electric power from carbon-free sources – the largest percentage of clean power produced by any southeastern U.S. utility. In addition, it increased solar energy capacity by nearly 70 percent with nearly 1,200 additional megawatts of solar energy under contract that to be online within the next two years.

Further, the board reported that TVA’s Transmission team set an all-time record for system reliability. It also achieved industry-leading safety performance even while implementing new COVID-19 safety protocols to protect employee health and rapidly responding to storm damage in middle Tennessee and Chattanooga. Also, the River Operations team managed the largest annual rainfall total in 138 years of recordkeeping while helping to prevent more than $1 billion in flood damage.

Finally, TVA worked with state and local economic development partners to help attract or retain 67,000 jobs and bring $8.6 billion in capital investment to the region.