TVA Seeks Up To 5,000 Megawatts Of Carbon-Free Energy

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 12, 2022

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on July 12 issued a request for up to 5,000 megawatts of carbon-free energy that must be operational before 2029.

Any transaction resulting from the request for proposals (RFP) will be in the form of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

TVA said that the procurement is one of the largest clean energy procurement requests in the nation.

TVA is interested in procuring carbon-free energy resources with commercial operation dates from 2023 through 2029 including: solar, wind (offshore or land based), hydro, geothermal, biomass, nuclear, green gas, battery energy storage systems (BESS) paired with the above resources, standalone BESS, “and hybrid combinations of the aforementioned resources,” the RFP said.

TVA said it reserves the right to vary from the above stated energy quantity target. The PPA will also require the transfer to TVA of all the applicable associated environmental attributes (renewable energy credits/certificates, etc.).

All resources must be located in the TVA service territory or delivered to TVA’s interface with neighboring transmission systems. If any proposal is delivered to the TVA interface, it must have all cost components included for an all-in energy price.

TVA noted that it is executing a defined strategy to reduce carbon from 2005 levels by 70% by 2030, 80% by 2035, and aspire to be net-zero by 2050.

To support its carbon-reduction efforts, the agency is exploring and accelerating carbon-free technologies and moving to bring an additional 10,000 MW of solar energy capacity online by 2035.

Proposals must be submitted by October 19, 2022, and TVA will announce selected projects in Spring 2023.

The RFP is available here.