The Tennessee Valley Authority expects to decide in March whether to spend $2.2 billion to replace its former 1.5 GW coal-fired power plant in Kingston, Tenn., with a gas-fired facility the same size as says it could burn 5 percent hydrogen, along with a new 122-mile natural gas pipeline and 100 MW of battery storage.
The details are in a final environmental impact statement the federal power producer released Feb. 16 in which it lists the gas plant as its preferred replacement energy option. The 70-year-old, nine-unit Kingston coal plant, which was the world’s largest coal-fired plant when it first began operating, would be demolished when the new facility opens in late 2027.
The alternative options TVA considered were building multiple solar generation and energy storage units on its territory and continuing to operate the Kingston plant, including repairs, maintenance and upgrades to keep it running while continuing to phase out its coal ash waste.
The plant was the site of a massive coal ash spill in 2008, when more than billions of gallons of ash and debris spilled across 300 acres of northeast Tennessee and into the Emory River. TVA paid $28 million to coal ash victims in 2014, and the cleanup cost it about $1 billion. The litigation involving repair workers against cleaning contractor Jacobs Engineering lasted until a 2023 settlement with the plaintiffs. Terms of the settlement and damages were not disclosed. The incident has also tightened regulation of hundreds of coal ash disposal sites in the US
A proposal that would apply to inactive surface impoundments (ponds, landfills and other impoundments at coal plants that ceased operations or no longer accepted coal ash waste prior to the implementation of a 2015 federal rule) it will be final this year.
Flexible, faster to build, TVA says
The proposed combined-cycle gas plant would replace capacity lost by closing Kingston and support projected growth in energy demand in the region, TVA’s environmental review says. The facility could burn up to 30 percent hydrogen with modifications once a reliable fuel source is identified, he adds. According to TVA, the gas plant is the lowest cost and most reliable option and could be built the fastest. It would also add the flexibility needed to add 10,000 MW of solar power to the TVA system by 2035, which the producer has already announced.
TVA CEO Jeff Lyash will make the final replacement decision, spokesman Scott Brooks told ENR.
Last year it approved a plan to build a 1.45 GW combined-cycle gas plant to replace a unit at TVA’s Cumberland coal-fired facility in Stewart County, Tenn., despite concerns expressed about its environmental review. TVA would build the new gas plant to operate by 2026. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this month approved a natural gas pipeline to support it. TVA would retire the second unit by the end of 2028
TVA, which also plans to invest $1.5 billion through 2027 in energy efficiency and demand response programs, will accept public comments on its Kingston environmental review until July 3.
Environmental groups criticized Kingston’s preferred alternative, saying the gas plant would worsen the impacts of climate change and threaten hundreds of waterways along the pipeline’s 122-mile route.
“As the nation’s largest utility, it is time for TVA to shift its power generation to clean and safe energy sources,” the Sierra Club said in a statement.
Fusion Power Prototype Located
Meanwhile, TVA will host a prototype fusion power plant at a decommissioned coal plant being developed by Type One Energy Group, the company said Feb. 21.
Construction could begin in 2025 at the former 865 MW Bull Run coal-fired facility in Tennessee to verify the design features of the developer’s “stellarator” fusion technology after completing environmental reviews, permitting and operating licenses.
Type One Energy has said it plans to invest more than $220 million in the region over the next five years.
TVA, the company and the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., signed an agreement last year to develop and commercialize fusion energy technologies.
“Type One Energy is committed to making commercial fusion a reality over the next decade,” he said in a statement.
Oak Ridge Principal Stephen Streiffer said it has pioneered fusion science and technology since the early 1950s and will work with the company on engineering the pilot. “It’s exciting to see a project in Oak Ridge with such great potential to advance fusion energy,” he said.
The developer’s Infinity One fusion reactor prototype has a different design than the tokamak fusion reactor being tested and developed in Europe.
Type One officials said the Tennessee project will allow its design features to be verified for affordability, reliability, maintainability and operational efficiency.
