Dive Brief:
- The Tennessee Valley Authority’s 1.4-GW Kingston Fossil Plant and 2.4-GW Cumberland Fossil Plant will remain operational and deliver power past their previously scheduled retirement dates, the federal utility announced Wednesday.
- TVA’s board of directors voted unanimously to keep the two coal plants open alongside new natural gas generation that is being developed at each site. The coal plants had previously been scheduled to fully retire by 2027 and 2028.
- TVA’s CFO Tom Rice said it was thanks to President Donald Trump and his National Energy Dominance Council that the utility is in a position to keep the two plants operational.
Dive Insight:
Trump remade TVA’s board by firing three Joe Biden appointees in July, depriving the body of a quorum until four of Trump’s own nominees were confirmed by the Senate in December.
“A previous board authorized the retirement of both units at Cumberland and all nine units at Kingston, and their replacement with natural gas generation,” Rice said in a video posted by the utility. “Since that time, we've seen a number of significant changes, not only in our region, but across the country. Most significantly is a significant increase in electricity demand and the declaration of an energy emergency.”
There has also been a “significant change in the regulatory outlook, particularly for coal,” he added, which “creates both the opportunity and the need for us to revisit these decisions.”
The Trump administration has prioritized a continued reliance on coal with policy moves such as ordering the continued operation of several coal plants set to retire, despite objections from some coal plant owners.
There are no such objections from TVA’s current board of directors. When Rice recommended the matter to the board for a vote, he said keeping the plants open is “fully consistent with our least cost planning mandate, with our reliability obligations.”
A release from TVA cited data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing coal generation increased 31% during Winter Storm Fern last month, accounting for 21% of U.S. power output.
“TVA’s coal fleet reliably delivered 14% of the region’s power during peak demand on January 27,” the utility said.
“To have over 3,000 megawatts to be essentially maintained on our system while we continue to build our assets for the future is incredibly important,” TVA’s CEO Don Moul said.
TVA is in the process of building 1.4 GW of natural gas capacity at its Cumberland Fossil Plant and another 1.4 GW at its Kingston Fossil Plant.
At a White House event on Wednesday, where Trump was given an “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal” trophy by Chair of the National Coal Council Jim Grech, the president said he was “proud” to announce that Kingston and Cumberland will remain open, but criticized TVA as having gone in a “very stupid, very bad” direction and accused it of paying its chief executive too much.
“It's supposed to be semipublic, but it's semiprivate,” Trump said about the federal utility. “I think the Speaker of the House wants to resign and head the Tennessee Valley Authority, and he could do a much better job, I can tell you that."
