Tennessee Valley Authority – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The TVA Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) will hold a meeting on October 3, 2024, to receive an update and discuss the September publication and results of TVA's Draft 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and associated Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The IRP provides strategic direction on how TVA will continue to provide low-cost, reliable, resilient, and increasingly cleaner electricity to the 10 million residents of the Valley region. The RERC will also receive an update on TVA's Innovation Research efforts.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern floating cabins located on the Tennessee River System.

The TVA Regional Resource Stewardship Council (RRSC) will hold a virtual meeting on August 13, 2024, to kick off the 13th term of the RRSC. The Council will receive updates about TVA's work in Natural Resources, River Management, and Cultural Compliance. RRSC members will also hear an update on the development of TVA's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is amending the April 5, 2017 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor (CLWR). The SEIS was issued March 4, 2016, by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and adopted by TVA in its 2017 ROD. TVA is amending its previous decision to increase the number of tritium- producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) irradiated in its reactors at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN). In partnership with NNSA, TVA initially decided to implement the CLWR SEIS Preferred Alternative, Alternative 6, which allows for the irradiation of up to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months using TVA reactors at both the WBN and Sequoyah sites. Subsequent to the CLWR SEIS, WBN Unit 1 increased production under Unit 1 License Amendment 107 (July 2016) and Unit 2 tritium production was authorized under Unit 2 License Amendment 27 (May 2019). In April 2024, WBN Units 1 and 2 were further authorized to increase their tritium productions to 2,496 TPBARs in each unit under Unit 1 License Amendment 165 and Unit 2 License Amendment 72. Hence, TVA and NNSA are now opting to choose the previously analyzed CLWR SEIS Alternative 4, which allows for the irradiation of up to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months at WBN using Units 1 and 2.

At its meeting on November 9, 2023, in Tupelo, Mississippi, the TVA Board made its determinations on the PURPA standards as set forth in the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). The TVA Board considered the standards in accordance with PURPA and the objectives and requirements of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, as amended (TVA Act).

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has made a decision to adopt the Preferred Alternative identified in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the retirement of the Kingston Fossil Plant (KIF). The Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Kingston Retirement Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on February 23, 2024. TVA's Preferred Alternative, Alternative A, involves the retirement of KIF, decommissioning and demolition of KIF's nine coal-fired units, and the construction and operation of facilities to replace the retired generation that include a single natural gas-fired combined cycle (CC) plant, 16 dual-fuel aeroderivative combustion turbines (aero CTs) and a new switchyard (hereafter the CC/aero CT Plant), a 3 to 4 megawatt (MW) solar site, a 100 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS), and new transmission line infrastructure. Alternative A also involves the Ridgeline Expansion Project, consisting of a new 122-mile natural gas pipeline, compressor station, and metering and regulation facilities to be constructed, owned, and operated by East Tennessee Natural Gas, LLC (ETNG). Alternative A will achieve the purpose and need to have firm, dispatchable replacement generation to meet capacity system demands, particularly peak load events, by the end of 2027 when KIF is retired. Alternative A will also facilitate the integration of additional solar and battery storage resources elsewhere on TVA's system, which is part of TVA's overall asset planning that includes the deployment and installation of up to 10,000 MW of solar by 2035.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to adopt the Preferred Alternative identified in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) Subsequent License Renewal (SLR) project Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SEIS). The Notice of Availability of the Final SEIS for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Subsequent License Renewal project was published in the Federal Register on August 11, 2023. The Preferred Alternative, Alternative BBFN Units 1, 2, and 3 Subsequent License Renewal, supports TVA's goal to continue to generate baseload power at the BFN site between 2033 and 2056, thus generating sufficient electricity to supply the Tennessee Valley with increasingly clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for the region's homes and businesses as outlined in TVA's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

The TVA Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) will hold a meeting on December 12, 2023, regarding regional energy related issues in the Tennessee Valley.

The TVA Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) will hold a meeting on November 7, 2023, regarding regional energy related issues in the Tennessee Valley.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement evaluating the proposed expansion of mining operations (proposed mine expansion) by Sugar Camp Energy, LLC (Sugar Camp) to extract TVA-owned coal reserves in Franklin, Hamilton, and Jefferson counties, Illinois. The proposed 22,414-acre expansion area contains 21,868 acres of coal reserves owned by TVA that are under a coal lease agreement with Sugar Camp. TVA will consider whether to approve Sugar Camp's application to mine TVA-owned coal reserves within the project area. Additionally, TVA will evaluate the divestiture of TVA's mineral rights and associated land rights in Franklin, Hamilton and Jefferson counties, Illinois.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides notice of submission of this information clearance request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The general public and other federal agencies are invited to comment. TVA previously published a 60- day notice of the proposed information collection reinstatement for public review June 5, 2023 and no comments were received.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the TVA Board of Directors has renewed the Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) charter for an additional two-year period.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is announcing an extension of the public comment period on the Cheatham County Generation Site Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. A Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal Register on May 19, 2023, announcing a 30-day comment period closing on June 20, 2023. This notice serves to extend the comment period by 7 days until June 27, 2023.

TVA is working to build an energy system powered by cleaner, more flexible energy, and solar and storage will play a big role. TVA has an expansion target of 10,000 megawatts (MW) of solar by 2035. TVA has identified the need to respond more efficiently and effectively to the growing number of solar and battery projects that will be required to achieve TVA's overall decarbonization goals and aspirations. To meet its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), TVA is preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to develop new guidance and a bounding analysis that will further facilitate solar energy and battery energy storage development on TVA- owned and private lands within the TVA service area. TVA would consider this guidance, including recommended environmental practices and mitigation measures, in its decision-making processes.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is conducting a study of its energy resources. The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is a comprehensive study of how TVA will meet the demand for electricity in its service territory. TVA's most recent IRP was adopted by the TVA Board in 2019. As part of this new study, TVA will prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the impacts associated with the implementation of the next IRP. The EIS analyzes significant environmental impacts to the combined TVA power service area and the Tennessee River watershed (TVA region) that could result from the targeted power supply mix studied in the IRP. TVA will use the EIS process to elicit and prioritize the values and concerns of stakeholders; identify issues, trends, events, and tradeoffs affecting TVA's policies; formulate, evaluate, and compare alternative portfolios of energy resource options; provide opportunities for public review and comment; and ensure that TVA's evaluation of alternative energy resource strategies reflects a full range of stakeholder input. Public comment is invited concerning both the scope of the EIS and environmental issues that should be addressed as a part of this EIS.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides notice of submission of this information clearance request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The general public and other federal agencies are invited to comment. TVA previously published a 60- day notice of the proposed information collection reinstatement for public review February 22, 2023 and no comments were received.

The TVA Regional Resource Stewardship Council (RRSC) will hold a meeting on March 27 and 28, 2023, regarding TVA's natural resources and stewardship matters in the Tennessee Valley.

The proposed information collection reinstatement of a previously approved, but expired, information collection described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The Tennessee Valley Authority is soliciting public comments on this proposed collection renewal.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to adopt the preferred alternative identified in its final environmental impact statement (Final EIS) for the Moore County Solar Project. The Final EIS was made available to the public on December 9, 2022. A Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on December 16, 2022. TVA's preferred alternative, analyzed in the Final EIS as the Proposed Action Alternative, consists of TVA executing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with SR Tullahoma, LLC (SR Tullahoma), a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Ranch Corporation (SRC), to purchase power generated by the proposed 200-megawatt (MW) alternating current (AC) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility, which would occupy approximately 1,873 acres of a 3,463-acre Project Site, two miles west of the city of Tullahoma, within the metropolitan limits of Lynchburg in Moore County, Tennessee. The Project would connect to TVA's existing adjacent Franklin-Wartrace No. 2 161-kilovolt (kV) transmission line (TL) that extends north-south through the Project Site. To interconnect to TVA's existing electrical grid, SR Tullahoma and TVA would build an on-site 161-kV substation and switchyard, respectively, and TVA would replace the existing overhead ground wire with new fiber-optic overhead ground wire along an approximately 9.8- mile portion of the TL. This alternative would achieve the purpose and need of the Project to meet the demand for increased renewable energy generation established in TVA's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is considering adopting for itself and the distributors of TVA power certain demand response and electric vehicle standards. The standards being considered are the Demand Response Practices (hereinafter ``Demand Response'') and Electric Vehicle Charging Programs standards (hereinafter ``Electric Vehicles'') listed in the Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1978, as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The standards will be considered on the basis of their effect on conservation of energy, efficient use of facilities and resources, equity among electric consumers, TVA's existing demand response and electric vehicle programs, and the objectives of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. Comments are requested from the public on whether TVA should adopt these standards or any variations on them.

The TVA Regional Resource Stewardship Council (RRSC) and Regional Energy Resource Council (RERC) will hold a combined meeting of both councils on November 3, 2022, to seek advice on environmental justice issues in the Tennessee Valley and discuss TVA's sustainability and biodiversity programs.