TVA selects UTK’s Baker Center to help identify ways to accelerate the region’s clean energy economy
A new study will look at all segments of the economy to pinpoint ways all sectors can adopt sustainable, carbon-free solutions.
During a meeting last Thursday in Florence, AL, the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors announced plans to move forward with a “Valley Pathways Study” that will look at all segments of the economy to accelerate the region’s clean energy economy.
The study – a partnership between the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and TVA – is critical to help the region better define the pace of electrification and identify the connections between the power industry and all sectors of the economy to pinpoint ways everyone can adopt sustainable, carbon-free solutions.
TVA will use the study to expand on the region’s standing as a national leader for innovation in new nuclear, renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy storage, and hydrogen. The study comes as the utility has experienced a nearly 2.5 percent demand growth from 2020 to 2022 following a decade of nearly flat load growth. This article notes that Southern states are the fastest-growing region in the nation, and Tennessee is among the states with the largest rate of population increase for the past year for the entire country. TVA’s service area is expected to exceed 10 million residents in the next Census Bureau report.
