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

[Uncle Joe]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation’s largest public utility is moving ahead with a plan for a new natural gas plant in Tennessee despite warnings that its environmental review of the project doesn’t comply with federal law. The Tennessee Valley Authority announced in April that it would replace the aging coal-burning Kingston Fossil Plant with gas amid growing calls for the agency’s new board of directors to invest in renewables.

The board, with six of nine members appointed by President Biden, is expected to meet on Thursday in Nashville, a day after a planned protest by a coalition of environmental groups demanding the utility stop investing in fossil fuels.

Decommissioning the Kingston plant, the site of a massive 2008 coal ash spill, is part of TVA’s overall plan to reduce its reliance on coal. In analyzing alternatives to replace the plant, the utility considered either a new 1,500-megawatt gas plant or 1,500 megawatts of solar combined with 2,200 megawatts of battery storage. TVA concluded that a 2027 deadline for retiring the current plant does not give it enough time to develop the renewables alternative.

(snip)

TVA declined to follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s suggestion for a do-over. It decided in April to forge ahead with gas — continuing to follow a plan of action that the EPA says fails to consider recent changes in the energy sector, including falling prices for renewables, billions of federal dollars for clean energy projects, and ever stricter environmental regulations. The corporation remains off track to meet the Biden administration’s goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 to try to limit the effects of climate change.

(snip)

https://apnews.com/article/new-tva-natural-gas-plant-epa-review-2fe76acf21db27694f40e2ad957739a6

[Ontheboundry]

1. As a resident of east Tennessee

And would be a customer of TVA if I wasn't full solar or my own accord, there is a small bit left off here

The location of the solar farm was not exactly a good solar spot,.as east TN in general has too many hills/mountains for large scale solar

All of Tennessee solar farms are.inntue western part of the state, where it is very flat

There may be more to this story that what I remember, and will have to dig into it

[Uncle Joe]

2. Do you believe

that wind as a renewable would be better for that location?

[Ontheboundry]

6. If I grasp wind

They also need a flat/open area? I did hear they are proposing a geothermal plant, but I'm even less informed on that than wind

East Tennessee has lots of hydro and Nuclear power, simply cuz our rivers allow it

I'm also not sure how far TVA reach stretches to the west where large solar is very plausible in Tennessee

[hunter]

4. How do you do "full solar?" Especially in the winter.

Propane? Diesel? Wood? Candles?

My own very rural great grandma was the wood stove and Aladdin oil lamp sort. When I was a kid she was still complaining about rural electrification. My great grandfather had enthusiastically embraced rural electrification, mostly to support his damned radio habit, by her account.

[Ontheboundry]

5. When I mean full solar, I mean not even attached to the grid

I use wood for heat and sometimes cooking (we have an interesting outside kitchen lol

I use propane for heat and some of my hot water (we have solar tubes which helps with it)

The rest is solar. Even my back up generator is propane (dual fuel, but I have a large tank of propane which is more efficient )

[Ontheboundry]

7. We have solar lanterns

For the majority of our lights actually. We have a few lights built into the house, but we use solar lanterns in bedrooms and such

Lighting isn't a large power consumer

We are looking into a wood furnace

[mjvpi]

3. One would hope that with how climate scientists are being shocked by the data coming in .......

……….that those six out of nine understand science and understand that short term profits will mean very little in five years.

[hunter]

8. In a rational nation it would be much easier to replace coal power plants with nuclear power plants.

There's more than enough gas in the ground to destroy the natural world as we know it, and likely destroy our world civilization too.

It's best we leave that gas in the ground.

It's not impossible. France built nuclear power plants and shut down its last coal mine two decades ago.