The Tennessee Valley Authority will begin the process of acquiring a new 1.5 GW gas-fired power plant in East Tennessee that will cost $2.2 billion, announcing on April 2 the decision end of removing Kingston coal from 70 years and nine units. – fire installation. The federal power producer will also build 100 MW of battery storage and up to 4 MW of solar generation.
“This energy complex is the most cost-effective option that offers the flexibility and reliability within the timeframe to bring the replacement online,” said Allen Clare, TVA’s senior vice president of power operations.
Natural gas for the project will be supplied through a new 122-mile natural gas pipeline that will have to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The final decision sets in motion the technology selection and procurement steps for the new plant, TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told ENR. He expects the new combined cycle units to start operating before Kingston retires in late 2027. They could also burn up to 5% hydrogen.
TVA had released its final environmental impact statement for the Kingston replacement on February 16, listing the gas option as the preferred power generation.
But in comments submitted to this review on March 25, the US Environmental Protection Agency called it non-compliant. Acting Regional Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle said the EPA’s review determined it “doesn’t address numerous.” [agency] concerns identified” in a draft, adding that “a lack of transparency prevents us from understanding TVA’s treatment of several important issues.”
Calling TVA’s review “inadequate,” he called for supplemental analysis, adding that the current final version lacks detail on “the costs of each power generation option, underestimates greenhouse gases, and [other] pollutant emissions, fails to consider a reasonable range of feasible alternatives . . . that do not lock in fossil fuel generation, and inadequately considers impacts on communities with environmental justice concerns.”
TVA spokesman Brooks said many of the EPA’s comments were raised earlier and discussed with the agency on March 27, with comments incorporated into the project’s record of decision, which sets the work in motion of design and construction and includes impacts and mitigation measures.
TVA also noted that EPA’s comments were made after the close of the comment period for the final environmental impact statement.
The Kingston plant, once the world’s largest coal-fired power plant when it first began operating, gained national attention as the site of a massive coal ash spill in 2008, when several million gallons of ash and debris spilled across 300 acres beyond its boundaries and into the Emory River.
TVA paid $28 million to coal ash victims in 2014, and the cleanup cost it about $1 billion. This work was completed in 2015, including new coal ash storage protections.
