Tenesee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established by an Act of Congress signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 18, 1933, as part of the New Deal. Created to address the severe economic depression gripping the Tennessee Valley region, TVA was tasked with flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and regional economic development across a seven-state area. TVA is the largest public power utility in the United States, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and serves approximately 10 million people across Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia through 153 local power companies and large industrial customers. Don Moul serves as President and CEO.

TVA's generating portfolio of approximately 35,000 MW is one of the most diverse in the US, spanning nuclear (the third-largest US nuclear fleet, comprising plants at Watts Bar, Sequoyah, and Browns Ferry), hydroelectric (over 50 dams on the Tennessee River and its tributaries), combined cycle natural gas, combustion turbine peakers, coal (being retired), solar, wind, and battery storage. Nuclear and hydro together provide the backbone of TVA's carbon-free generation capacity. As a federally owned corporation, TVA is exempt from state and local taxation and operates with a different financial structure than investor-owned utilities — it issues bonds on capital markets but does not sell equity, and its rates are set to cover costs without profit for shareholders.

TVA's most significant cleantech development is its advanced nuclear program. The utility has selected GE Hitachi's BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) technology for potential deployment and is actively siting candidates for its first SMR at the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. TVA received approximately $400 million in federal grant funding in 2024 to support SMR development and is working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the licensing pathway. TVA is also the host utility for Kairos Power's Hermes demonstration reactor, a small high-temperature fluoride salt-cooled reactor being constructed at Oak Ridge — the first non-light-water advanced reactor permitted for construction in the US since the 1970s.

TVA is also deploying significant solar and battery storage capacity across its service territory, contracting with multiple utility-scale solar developers, and pursuing partnerships with industrial customers on demand response and electrification. The organization has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from its electricity generation by 2050, with major interim milestones including coal retirement and clean capacity additions.