The U.S. state of
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
receives its power from a variety of sources. The
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
(TVA) is the primary utility in Tennessee which generates electricity and sells it to hundreds of local utilities and industrial customers.
Like most of the US, the sources used to generate power in Tennessee have changed substantially in the last decade. Coal's share of power has declined from nearly 60% in 2008 to about 25% in 2018, while natural gas has increased significantly.
Tennessee is home to the two newest nuclear reactors in the US at
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Cha ...
, unit 2 being the first to begin operation in the 21st century.
[ After Watts Bar Unit 2 began operation in late 2016, nuclear power passed coal as the top source of electricity.][ In November 2018 natural gas produced more power than coal for the first time in Tennessee.][ Tennessee is home to the third largest ]pumped-storage hydroelectric
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...
facility in the US, and has the third highest net generation of hydroelectric power of states east of the Mississippi River, and eighth highest nationwide.[ In 2018, about 57% of the power consumed in Tennessee was generated with emissions free sources.]
Biomass
Coal
Natural gas
The Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
operates nine natural gas power stations in Tennessee.TVA - Natural Gas
/ref> Six of these use simple combustion turbines. Three newer facilities use more efficient combined cycle generators.
Hydroelectric plants
Wind farms
Solar stations
Nuclear plants
The Tennessee Valley Authority operates two nuclear plants in Tennessee. In addition much of the power generated at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant
The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is located on the Tennessee River near Decatur, Alabama, Decatur and Athens, Alabama, on the north side (right bank) of Wheeler Lake. The site has three General Electric boiling water reactor (BWR) nuclear generatin ...
in Limestone County, Alabama
Limestone County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 103,570. Its county seat is Athens. The county is named after Limestone Creek. Limestone County is included in the Huntsville, AL Metro ...
is distributed to Tennessee.
Former facilities
Coal
Hydroelectric
Cancelled facilities
See also
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Power Stations In Tennessee
Power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
*