Dive Summary:
- President Barack Obama's budget plan for 2014 proposes a strategic review of the U.S. government's ownership of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
- Obama's budget proposal says ending or cutting back the U.S. government's role in TVA would have a positive effect on the federal deficit, especially since TVA's debt is $25 billion and its capital investment plan outlines $25 billion in expenditures over the next 10 years.
- The federally-owned TVA owns and operates 56 power plants across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee, selling wholesale power to 155 utilities, who serve 9 million end-users.
From the article:
"... Congress established TVA in 1933 to address flood control, power supply, and economic development problems during the Great Depression. TVA expanded during World War II to produce the electricity for aluminum smelters in the region.
TVA currently owns and operates 303 generating units at its 56 plants. About one-third of the generators are hydroelectric, including the 2.5-GW Cumberland Dam in Tennessee, which is the third largest hydroelectric facility in the country and one of only 24 power plants in the country that are 2.5 GW or larger. TVA's other large plants are the 3.3-GW Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama, the 2.6-GW natural gas and coal Johnsonville plant in Tennessee (consisting of 30 generators), and the 2.3-GW Sequoyah nuclear plant in Tennessee. ..."