US's largest public utility ignores warnings in moving forward with new natural gas plant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The nation’s largest nationalist inferior is moving up with a program for a caller earthy state works successful Tennessee contempt warnings that its environmental reappraisal of the task doesn't comply with national law. The Tennessee Valley Authority announced successful April that it would regenerate the aging coal-burning Kingston Fossil Plant with state amid increasing calls for the agency's caller committee of directors to put successful renewables.

The board, with six of 9 members appointed by President Biden, is expected to conscionable connected Thursday successful Nashville, a time aft a planned protestation by a conjugation of biology groups demanding Tennessee Valley halt investing successful fossil fuels.

Decommissioning the Kingston plant, tract of a monolithic 2008 ember ash spill, is portion of Tennessee Valley's wide program to trim its reliance connected coal. In analyzing alternatives to regenerate the plant, the corp considered either a caller 1,500 megawatt state works oregon 1,500 megawatts of star combined with 2,200 megawatts of artillery storage. Tennessee Valley concluded that a 2027 deadline for retiring the existent works does not springiness it capable clip to make the renewables alternative.

The Environmental Protection Agency asked Tennessee Valley successful a March 25 missive to redo respective aspects of its analysis, citing “numerous” concerns with the program to instal caller state turbines. Among different things, the EPA accused the inferior of defining the Kingston task truthful narrowly that lone its predetermined prime of a caller state works would conscionable the parameters, making the corporation's valuation process a “foreordained formality.” EPA said the inferior did not adequately explicate the request for the 2027 closure oregon look astatine imaginable alternatives.

The EPA said that Tennessee Valley's biology reappraisal does not adhere to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires national agencies similar Tennessee Valley to measure the biology interaction of projected actions earlier making a decision.

Tennessee Valley, which is an autarkic national agency, declined to travel EPA's proposition for a do-over. It decided successful April to forge up with state — continuing to travel a program of enactment that the EPA says fails to instrumentality into relationship caller changes successful the vigor sector, including falling prices for renewables, billions of national dollars for cleanable vigor projects, and ever stricter biology regulations. The corp remains disconnected way to conscionable the Biden administration's extremity of eliminating c contamination from powerfulness plants by 2035.

Tennessee Valley said successful a connection that “we met with EPA pursuing the missive and addressed their concerns.” EPA, meanwhile, maintained successful an email to The Associated Press that its petition that Tennessee Valley revise its biology interaction connection inactive stands.

Dennis Wamsted, an vigor expert astatine the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said adjacent with Tennessee Valley's 2027 deadline, “They could physique doubly the magnitude of star that they accidental they request and doubly the magnitude of artillery retention they accidental they need."

Other utilities are taking vantage of terms drops, method improvements and authorities incentives to physique retired solar, including successful Texas and Florida.

By 2030, Florida Power and Light expects star to relationship for adjacent to 40% of its generation, Wamsted said.

“This is simply a large inferior with, you know, the aforesaid regular responsibilities arsenic TVA," helium said. "And they are gathering retired star arsenic accelerated arsenic they can.”

Tennessee Valley provides powerfulness to 10 cardinal radical crossed 7 Southern states. Florida Power and Light serves implicit 12 cardinal radical successful that state.

Even if star doesn't nutrient powerfulness 24 hours per day, the magnitude of vigor it does nutrient is knowable and tin beryllium planned for, Wamsted said. It tin besides beryllium paired with batteries that store excess vigor during the time to merchandise backmost to the grid astatine night. That is already happening connected a ample standard successful California wherever batteries are providing much than 20% of the powerfulness successful the strategy connected galore evenings, helium said.

In Wamsted's view, galore utilities defy the modulation to renewables chiefly due to the fact that they are unfamiliar.

He points to an country called the Southwest Power Pool that runs from Oklahoma to Canada and present sees days wherever 60% oregon 70% of the strategy is wind-powered. In the precocious 2000s, helium spoke to grid operators determination who were acrophobic to spell supra 5% oregon 10% due to the fact that they had ne'er done it before, helium said.

Tennessee Valley's Kingston task is not its archetypal clash with the EPA implicit gas. The biology regulator made galore of the aforesaid criticisms a twelvemonth agone erstwhile the corp decided to physique a caller 1,450-megawatt earthy state works astatine its coal-burning Cumberland Fossil Plant. The Sierra Club and different groups are suing implicit that determination arsenic good arsenic an earlier 1 to instal state turbines astatine a retired ember works successful New Johnsonville. Both lawsuits assertion that Tennessee Valley's biology reviews are perfunctory, successful usurpation of the instrumentality — akin to the EPA's disapproval of the Kingston plant.

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, a predominant Tennessee Valley critic, said successful a connection to The Associated Press that the corp should perceive to the EPA.

“The National Environmental Policy Act isn’t optional — it’s the bedrock of our biology extortion and assemblage engagement laws,” helium said.

Although Tennessee Valley has not embraced renewables, the inferior inactive says a bulk of its vigor is carbon-free due to the fact that 42% comes from atomic and different 9% is from hydropower. Purchased upwind and star marque up different 4% of its vigor portfolio. The corp presently produces 1 megawatt of its ain star and has 20 megawatts of artillery storage. It estimates that the caller state works volition nutrient 1.68 cardinal tons of greenhouse gases a year, noting that that is simply a steep diminution from Kingston's existent emissions.

Nationally, ember provided astir 16% of U.S. energy past year, down from astir 45% successful 2010. Natural state provides astir 43% of U.S. electricity, with the remainder from atomic vigor and renewables specified arsenic wind, star and hydropower.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has said it intends to physique 10,000 megawatts of star by 2035. Wamsted contends that is excessively acold successful the future.

“It should be, ‘We’re going to physique arsenic overmuch star arsenic we perchance tin now,’ due to the fact that it’s present that we truly request to interest about," helium said. “We don’t request to interest astir 10 years from present oregon 15 years from now.”

____

Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.