TVA idles nine coal-fired units

- TVA plans to idle nine coal-fired electric power generating units at its Shawnee, John Sevier and Widows Creek fossil plants to reduce its use of coal-generated power by 1,000 megawatts over the next five years.

In an online press conference, TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said none of the plants will be closed and although idling the units will affect about 200 employees out of 700 at the three plants, the agency plans to reduce those positions through attrition and by finding jobs at other TVA facilities for affected workers.

"We think we have work for those people who want to continue working," Kilgore said. "It may require that they transfer to other locations."

The plan calls for idling two of the four coal-fired units at John Sevier, which is near Rogersville six of eight units at Widows Creek near Stevenson, Ala. and one of the 10 units at Shawnee, which is near Padaucah, Ky.

Two units at Widows Creek will be idled in 2011, with the rest idled by 2015. The units at John Sevier will be idled within four to five years, and the Shawnee unit will be idled and evaluated for possible conversion to biomass fuel.

Kilgore announced TVA's goal of reducing its reliance on coal during the August board meeting, but said TVA wanted to talk to the employees and communities involved before making details public. The goal is part of a strategic vision Kilgore outlined for TVA to increase reliance on energy efficiency as well as nuclear and gas sources of power capacity while decreasing dependence on coal.

By 2010, TVA will have spent about $5.3 billion on emissions controls at its fossil-fuel plants. The units slated for idling are ones that have not been fitted with "scrubbers" for pollution control, Kilgore said. The main reasons for idling the units are:

• They are old — some nearly 60 years — and it would be expensive to fit them with scrubbers.

• Environmental Protection Agency regulations are increasingly complex, further adding to the cost.

• New sources of generation, including nuclear and gas, are coming online.

• Peak demand reduction through energy efficiency.

"We think our energy efficiency programs will reduce peak demand," Kilgore said.

Kilgore said it should be no problem for TVA to use other sources to offset the loss of 1,000 megawatts, which is about 3 percent of TVA's power production capacity. Two gas-fired generation plants at John Sevier and nuclear power units coming online will cover the loss, he said.

In fact, other coal-fired units likely will be idled, Kilgore noted. Out of 59 coal-fired units TVA operates, 42 do not have scrubbing equipment. The agency will need to look at each one and decide what to do, he said.

"We will continue to evaluate all of our unscrubbed units as we go forward and make decisions on those, whether to equip them with scrubbers or to idle them," Kilgore said.

Depending on how successfully TVA can switch to other power sources, it will move away from using coal and the idled units will be retired, Kilgore said.

"We think that by wading into this instead of diving off a high-diving board, that is the way to do this," he said.

TVA's announcement that it will idle the units drew approval from the Southern Alliance For Clean Energy, which issued a statement after the federal utility's press conference.

"We agree that there are more plants within the TVA system that need to be considered for additional retirements, but we welcome today's announcement," Stephen Smith, executive director of the organization, said in the prepared statement.