Episode Description
Today, we’re releasing the TAEBC 2026 TVA Lunch and Learn recording for our listeners. During this special event, we talked to Mike Skaggs, interim president and CEO of TVA, and Heidi Smith, TVA’s vice president of economic development.
We began our TVA Lunch and Learn series more than 7 years ago. Our goal was to connect our members directly with decision-makers at TVA, discuss timely topics and trends they’re seeing, and better understand TVA’s priorities and how the utility’s decisions affect the Valley.
In this episode, we talk about:
- TVA’s role in supporting big economic development investments across the utility’s seven-state service region of the Tennessee Valley.
- TVA’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan
- Advanced nuclear and fusion projects, data centers, and “bring your own power”
You can also watch the full recording on YouTube.
Plus…
Registration is NOW OPEN for Opportunities in Energy 2026! Get your tickets now.
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Thank you to everyone who makes this podcast possible, including the generosity of TAEBC members.
Episode Transcript
Cortney Piper:
Welcome to Energizing Tennessee, powered by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council. We’re your number one podcast for news about Tennessee’s advanced energy sector. I’m your host, Cortney Piper. Today we’re releasing the TAEBC 2026 TVA Lunch and Learn recording for our listeners, hosted by yours truly. We began our TVA Lunch and Learn series more than seven years ago. Our goal was to connect our members directly with decision makers at TVA, discuss timely topics and trends they’re seeing, and to better understand TVA’s priorities and how the utility’s decisions affect the valley. During this special event, we talked to Mike Skaggs, interim president and CEO of TVA, and Heidi Smith, TVA’s Vice President of Economic Development. Our topics ranged from TVA’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan, advanced nuclear infusion projects, data centers, and TVA’s role in supporting big economic development investments across the utility’s seven-state service region. Enjoy the show. It helps us reach a wider audience to champion Tennessee’s advanced energy sector. Energizing Tennessee would not be possible without the support of our TAEBC members. Thank you all for joining us for the TVA Lunch and Learn hosted by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council. We are so pleased to have you all with us today. The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council is the state’s champion for the advanced energy industry, and we are pleased to bring you these wonderful individuals and executives from TBA so we can hear more about TBA’s priorities as our state and the valley is experiencing tremendous growth. So with that, I’d like to hand it over to the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council president, Dr. Robert Hardin. He is also the Senior Quality Manager at Walker. So, Robert, please take it away.
Robert Hardin:
Thanks, Cortney. Good afternoon, everyone. I’m glad to have everyone here today. It’s my pleasure to welcome and introduce Heidi Smith, the Vice President of Economic Development here at the TBA. In her role, Heidi leads TVA’s efforts to foster job creation and attract investment across the seven-state Tennessee Valley region, advancing TBA’s mission of service through economic growth. Since joining TVA in 2002, Heidi’s been instrumental in developing and implementing strategic recruitment, community development programs, site development initiatives, and workforce development strategies that help prepare and position communities to be a more marketable situation for economic growth opportunities. Heidi’s been recognized for her contributions with the Tennessee Economic Development Council’s Fred H. Harris Professional of the Year Award and has been inducted into the Southern Business and Development’s Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame. We’re grateful to have Heidi with us today to share her insights and expertise around supporting growth in the Tennessee Valley. Please join me in welcoming Heidi. Heidi, over to you.
Heidi Smith:
Hey, thank you, Robert. Thank you for the introduction. It’s my pleasure to be here today. As Robert mentioned, I’ve been with TBA for 24 years and I’ve had the unique privilege of being in the economic development team. So it’s just my pleasure to speak with you today. I’m going to roll through some slides and talk about how we support our communities and our states and our local power companies and creating jobs and investment for the valley. So with that, one of my favorite quotes is from Franklin D. Roosevelt, where he mentioned that it’s TBA’s mission to improve the standard of living for the people that we serve. So we do that every day at TBA, but we also do that within our economic development work and programs and services. So TBA, we like to call it our three E’s, and this is where we deliver on our mission for the people. We make sure that we are delivering affordable, reliable power. We are stewards to the Valley Natural Resources, the river system. And then the group that I have the privilege to lead is partnering for economic growth. And that’s where we meet our communities, our state partners, where they are to achieve that capital investment and job creation goal. When you look across our services and how we engage with our communities and our economic development strategies, we really bucket our work in three primary functions. We prepare communities for growth. And that’s that’s different for every community that we serve. So we we reach in, we talk to our communities, we understand what they’re trying to achieve. So we we have a variety of programs and services. We recruit new companies of investment across our service region, the Tennessee Valley. And we’ve had a unique position in that for years and we’ll continue to do that. And then we retain our industries through our existing industry programs. We want to keep our existing industries healthy and competitive and viable. And then we also want to retain talent, that workforce that are going to work now and in the future across our service region. How we support communities. I’ve got a kind of a variety of things. I did want to mention this in the picture is Little Leaf Farms. That is a project that announced this last year, and it is a hydroponic lettuce maker. And so if any of you want to know more about lettuce, I learned a lot about lettuce in the process of working with this company, but we’re really proud of that announcement in Coffee County, Tennessee. So going back to our list on the left of how we support, so we have site development programs where we can help a community envision how they want to grow their industrial site inventory. We have a technical and design service group, and we call them our little mini-engineering firm. They can do site layouts, renderings, really trying to capture what is a company trying to locate, how are they going to fit on a site? Can they envision how that’s going to work? So we do that day in and day out. We also help communities think about the future with master plans. We also offer research. We have a market analyst that does a variety of research projects for our communities. A lot of times we get asked to answer the questions how might be, what could be possible? So we we tap into a lot of databases and offer that research. We offer incentives for our program. They’re all performance-based. So companies invest and employ in our region. And so we invest with them. We have a training and development program. So we are out in our communities day in and day out helping our community solve problems, what training. And it’s a variety of training programs. A lot of it these days is very customized on what a community is trying to achieve. I mentioned earlier that we read we do recruit industry across our region. And then we partner with the TBA, Corporate Communications Group, to market and tell the good story about our region and the work that we’re doing at TBA and with our partners. One of the programs I wanted to pull out that was instrumental in getting us the mindset for preparing to growth was the TDA Certified Mega Site Program. We launched the program in January of 2004, and we sold the first site in Mississippi in 2005. So we had immediate success. And our role was working through a consultant to help communities understand how to recruit larger industries across the footprint. We originally built the program to recruit into the automotive, the automotive assembly, which we call an OEM across the region, but we found great success in other industries that were interested. So this program gave communities the roadmap to follow how to approach and work with automotive companies and others, as you can see across the screen, that were interested in making sizable investments and creating jobs across the region. Our growth history and our impact over the years, and I’ve got numbers here from fiscal year 16 through 26. We’ve had sizable impact with project our jobs created, our jobs retained, our capital investment. I’ve got some logos on the screen so you all can get an idea of what type of industries have been making announcements across our region. This certainly doesn’t represent everybody, but it’s some notable announced projects. And the industries that we have activity are headquarters, aerospace and defense, energy systems, consumer and industrial products, automotive, life science, food and beverage, and then distribution and logistics. The beauty of our region is that we have such a diverse footprint that we have something for everybody in terms of a company making a location decision. So we’re really proud of our region and the attributes that we have. And then these companies make our region even stronger. The work that we do, so we do not do this work alone. We do this work in partnership. If you talk to anybody in economic development, they’re going to use the word teamwork. So we partner with our local power companies. We have regional partners, economic development agencies. We partner with our federal partners. Certainly our state agencies across our front point are highly engaged in what we do. And then our local economic development agencies. We work day in and day out to be providing solutions, being a partner, and filling in to where we can so we can help the community achieve their goals and creating jobs and investment. So closing out, I know we’re going to take some questions for me at the end, but thank you for having me today. Appreciate it. Great.
Cortney Piper:
Thank you, Heidi. As the region grows and the utility industry changes, TVA remains committed to its mission of serving the people of the Tennessee Valley. TVA’s interim president and CEO, Mike Skaggs, will share how TVA is delivering on that mission today while planning for the future, including building new generation and transmission capacity and exploring innovative partnerships to benefit the region and the nation. Now, most of you know Mike Skaggs and he needs a little introduction, but for those of you who are not familiar with Mike’s impressive background, he has more than 40 years of experience in the utility industry, including more than 25 years at TBA. And he returned from retirement in April 2026 to serve in this leadership role. Prior to his retirement in 2022, Mike served in a variety of leadership positions at TBA, including Chief Operations Officer, where he oversaw key areas of the business, including power generation, transmission, environmental stewardship, supply chain, major project projects, and emergency management. Throughout his career, he’s been recognized for his focus on operational excellence, safety, and performance improvement. So with that, Mike Skaggs, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Mike Skaggs:
Thank you much. Thank you for the introduction. Very kind of you. Thanks, Heidi, and your discussion that you gave us. Heidi does a great job, and we’re very proud of the work that she brings to TVA and how she’s carrying out our mission. So I’d like to talk a little bit about our employees and delivering on the mission to continue the thing that Heidi started. So it’s an exciting time at TVA. You know, our operational performance and financial performance is going quite well. I’m very proud of our employees. But we do have a hot summer in front of us, and we didn’t have a lot of rain, and so we’re we’re dealing with that challenge as we go through. So as you look up and see it rain a little bit, be thankful for TVA and for your electricity. a little bit of some of the updates that are going on with respect to TVA. We’re continuing to grow generation and transmission capacity. We have 3,700 megawatts under construction. The Cumberland Combined Cycle Plant, which is has 1,450 megawatts electric, that is in its final stages of completion. We have fired that plant and it runs well. And we’re continuing to complete things that need to be done for the commissioning of that plant later this this year. The Kingston Energy Complex, so we’re building a 1500 megawatt combined cycle plant there, and so it is underway and is expected to be complete next fiscal year, 27. We also have 500 megawatts going on at our new New Caledonia plant north of Mississippi. Have a hundred megawatts going into service at Shawnee, and so those are great things that are going on. We also have some areas that we’re working on trying to grow our generation capacity quicker. We’ve identified some about a thousand megawatts that can be put in service near term that would help us out from the meet the growing demand in the valley. So that work would include some cooling of our inlets. and what that does is that improves the thermodynamic cycle of the plant so it’s able to produce more power. There’s some transmission upgrades that we are looking at doing, as well as tuning of some of our gas plants to help that, the maximum output of those plants. And so all of those are some innovations that our employees have put together to find additional megawatts on the current system at very low cost. So we’re we’ll be looking to get those in place over the next two to three years. We also are working hard to with the board to get the 2026 Integrated Resource Plan issued this coming board meeting in a couple weeks, and that integrated resource plan clearly shows us the map or the strategy that we need to follow to meet the demand. The integrated resource plan tells us that our growth rate is around 1.7 to 1.9 percent year over year. The growth rate is not linear across the Tennessee territory, Tennessee Valley Territory. we’re seeing population growth. For example, northern Alabama’s growing, Nashville’s growing, Mississippi’s, Memphis is growing, northern Mississippi’s growing, Knoxville’s growing, Chattanooga’s growing, all the expected areas that you would see. And so we’re continuing to work in those areas to ensure that we understand what we need to continue to grow out those areas. We’re also committed in TVA to look for other ways to improve our performance and ability to put more capacity on the ground quicker. And so those efforts are underway. Working on detailed plans as of plans and approaches to improve the capability of getting more generating plants on the ground and transmission upgrades completed more nimbly and efficiently. And so those plans are expected to be complete and in process this county year. And those would include similar things like standardization of engineering designs, simplification of engineering standards, better estimating, better schedule performance, reducing rework, for example, all things that necessary to continue to help TVA be as competitive as possible in our rates around energy. Around new nuclear, a lot of action going on there. It’s an exciting time, it’s very busy. as you’re aware, TBA is pro-nuclear. We advocate for nuclear. We have seven nuclear reactors in our system. They provide stable, reliable energy. those plants are being operated and maintained by the employees quite well. very proud of what they’re doing. we’re in discussions with General Electric Bernova Hitachi, as well as Kairos Power Intro One, which is a new scale holding company. And we’re continuing to work with them on negotiations and contracts to allow us to put those plants in the Tennessee Valley all across the valley. And so those negotiations and discussions are going well. they’re ongoing today as I will speak. we’re working with the Japanese also on those plants, and so I’m satisfied with the progress we’re making in that area, and I’m I’m happy with what the that could bring to the valley with respect to economic development. also it’d help us TVA meet some of the demand for energy as we go forward. So those those discussions are be going on for the next few weeks and months, and hopefully we’ll have good things to report as we continue to wrap up those discussions. We’re also working with other companies like Type 1, what I mentioned, that are looking to build a fusion plant in the valley. We’re stationed right now at one of the old coal plants, Bull Run. So we’re working with them and their technology and giving them the support necessary to keep that moving and going forward. So the principles that we’re using as we work through those negotiations to make sure that we protect our competitiveness and our customers is we don’t plan on funding any of these projects or first-of-a-kind nuclear plants. we’re also looking to ensure that the risk associated with the plants would not cause problems or issues for TVA and its customers. We’re also ensuring that the off-teckers for the power are identified as part of the negotiations such that the our customers are not expected to pay any rates that aren’t you know within the ream that we’re paying right now, around competitiveness. And also we are expected to operate these plants so that ensures that you know we continue to watch over these plants to ensure that they’re reliable and safe, and that they’re good products, reliable products, and something that we can be proud of for the Tennessee bios. We’re also working with the state of Tennessee around nomination that the state of Tennessee was named as the nuclear lifestyle innovation campus. We’ll continue to work with them and build out what role and responsibilities that TVA would play in that. And that sounds very, very fruitful as we work. So, what bottom line, what I’d like to leave you with is we’re building out and investing in our power system as I described, both new capacity or generation as well as transmission system upgrades to meet the demand. we’re not sitting idle, waiting on others to make things happen. We’re gonna make things happen and make sure that we’re there and we can continue to be competitive and something that the Tennessee Valley is proud of. And that we’re gonna focus on being nimble, efficient, and aligned both inside and outside of TVA to make sure that our partners and our stakeholders are all aligned and in good step with one another, as well as TVA, to make sure that we continue to meet our mission of providing service, energy, environmental stewardship, and economic development to the region. So, once again, thanks for having me. Appreciate your time.
Cortney Piper:
Great. Thank you, Mike Skaggs and Heidi Smith. If you all want to pop back on the Zoom, we will start QA. A reminder to our attendees: if you have a question for the vice president of economic development or the interim CEO of TVA, now is your chance to ask those questions directly to them. You can do that by using the QA function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. If you do not see a QA icon, click on more and you will be able to see it in there. So, Heidi and Mike, as everybody starts together their questions, I’d like to kick things off with just a question about transmission and transmission planning. So the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council had the privilege of being on the IRP working group. And at that time, TBA was talking about the need for transmission planning, and that’s not part of the IRP, but there was going to be a separate process for that. So, can either of you just talk a little bit more about transmission planning? What are some of the next steps, and just share a little bit more details about how TBA approaches transmission planning?
Mike Skaggs:
So it’s a I can I’ll field it and then Heidi can fill in any any points that you would like to offer. You know, we We analyze where the demand for power is coming across our territory. And then we based on the demand for energy, or we’ll do additional planning studies to understand what we are seeing currently as well as what we’re seeing that we expect to see in the future. And then we start looking for opportunities from an engineering or engineering perspective to understand what options we have to improve the reliability and resiliency of the transmission system so that we can meet the current demand for power with a high level of reliability. And then we also start analyzing what upgrades need to be performed to ensure that we can compare, you know, carry that capacity of that we expect to have happen in the future across our transmission system. And once that’s completed, then they start developing optionalities for you know where to come how to do the design and where to implement the design at. And then they bounce that off of Heidi to ensure that it’s in it provides what she and her team are expecting from an economic development perspective in that same area. Those ideas are in integrated within the design analysis and approach, and then that gets completed from an engineering perspective, handed over to construction, and they put people on the ground in the field to make the changes necessary to carry out what the design and the expected advancement in planning asked for. I hope that answers your question.
Heidi Smith:
And and Cortney, I might add from an economic development role, you know, we’re working day in and day out with companies either looking to locate or expanding. And so we really lean in heavily with that company to understand how are they going to scale their power, what comes on, you know, what what do they need the first year through the fifth year? So we really are leaning in to try to get accurate information. The more accurate information we get helps our transmission team plan for the future. We also have a lot of historical information of where activity has been over the years. So what has been maybe hot regions or hot sites? And so we marry all that up to make sure that we’re using the data, we’re getting the right information so that when we’re coming back into our transmission team, we’re all really looking to solve the right issue.
Cortney Piper:
Well, and Heidi, I’m glad that you touched on that because we are experiencing a bit of a business boom in the Tennessee Valley, you know, fueled by lots of things, you know, on-coin manufacturing, the nuclear renaissance, artificial intelligence. But, you know, this boom is not unique to this moment in time. We’ve had other business booms in the Tennessee Valley, like auto manufacturing, for example. So, what are some of the things that TVA has done during the past booms that you can apply today or sort of share with us today?
Heidi Smith:
Yeah, it’s really getting those communities prepared for what growth they want. So at the end of the day, the the community picks what industry they want to locate, who they’re interested in, and if it fits for that for that community, that site, that region. So really leaning in, helping communities think through that. We do a lot of site preparation work. We again, I mentioned that technical services group, that design team where we can really help a community visualize what are they wanting, what fits, what doesn’t fit, and then really working with our communities to get alignment across the across the community with the elected officials, stakeholders, local power companies so that everybody is going after and promoting the same way so that there’s alignment for the community. So we have a lot of pre-work that helps a community frame up how they can create those jobs and what what makes sense for that community.
Cortney Piper:
Great. We’ve got some questions in the QA box, so we’ll we’ll turn to those now. How is TVA thinking about large loads or powered land facilities, mostly AI and data center centers under FERC orders 205 and 206? Obviously, with new rate structures pending and not wanting LPCs and their customers to subsidize these facilities, is bring your own power on the table.
Mike Skaggs:
So the president of the United States put out the ratepayer protection pledge. And you know, we signed up to the ratepayer protection pledge, and the ratepayer protection pledge is a very simple approach to how you deal with this issue, and I have examples of how it’s actually working. So we do we we agreed to the ratepayer protection pledge, and what that really the intention of that is for data centers, and we’re ripped from predominantly talking about data centers here because they take great loads, and so it’s about protecting the customers from covering the costs of the data centers coming into valley because they use so much power, and when you because we have to add capacity usually to cover for the data centers, and that additional capacity drives a custom it has potential to drive their customers’ rate up. And so what we put in place in agreement with alignment of a run rate pair protection plan is we are take you know, we are studying and analyzing for and process of taking to the board of TVA for approval rate changes associated with data centers. And essentially what it does is what I just described is it puts in place, it ensures that the rate that the data center is paying is its fair share of value. And secondly, what else it does is it it charges that data center or the individuals putting that data center into the territory. It asks them to cover the cost associated with any additional capacity for that plant needed for that plant, and then that goes directly into TBA, which then would cover the cost for that capacity, which then those two things basically protect the customers from any rate increases due to data centers. So, for example, we are working with X SpaceX AI out in Memphis, and they brought their, and that’s part of the question, they brought their own combustion turbines at over 40 combustion turbines to that site, which they provided, they are providing their own internal power as we are completing work necessary to provide energy to that facility. They need 1.1 gigawatts, and so we have provided 300 megawatts, I believe, to them so far. So they’re using their own existing combustion turbines as well as battery packs that they have on semi-tractor trailers out there, and so those two products, the combustion turbine as well as the battery packs, they protect they cover their energy needs as well as protect the grid from any demand that they cause. So it’s a great cooperation and work together between XAI and TBA. And so I we believe that that level of cooperation and negotiations and the way we are dealing with them and the way they’re dealing with us is a great example of what is expected from the rate payer protection plan and our new proposed rate plan for data centers.
Cortney Piper:
Next question: how does TVA prioritize different forms of energy generation? And would the TVA expect to change its portfolio in the next five to 10 years? Now, before you all answer that, I kind of want to frame this in the context of the IRP, because that is a very long process that the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council was a part of, along with other stakeholders. And I think you all are getting ready to present that to the board at your August meeting, correct? So that’s Mike or Heidi, if you want to talk a little bit more about how what the IRP does and that sort of framework, because that’s a framework that TBA and a lot of other utilities use when they decide on different forms of energy.
Mike Skaggs:
so TBA is bound by least cost planning. And what that means in simplest terms is that we are to provide energy at the least cost price to our customers. And so what the IRP does is it takes that rule requirement and it it analyzes multiple different thousands of different scenarios based on the economies of fuel, the economies of plant prices, supply chain peace parts, for example. And essentially what it does is it provides options for what types of plants could be built and what parts of the different parts of the Tennessee Valley, such that it meets the needs of what the IRP is projecting for with respect to demand. And it it lays out optionalities around what type of plant should be picked based on least cost pricing. And so you know, right now the it is picking that that program is picking gas because of the fuel prices are low and gas, natural gas. So we don’t just like pick up on what are the current day prices of natural gas, it also projects what is going to be the price of gas in 10 years and 20 years. And so, you know, it picks out different types of fuel types. For example, it would pick it’s picking gas a lot now, but it also picks solar in certain cases, and it you know, clearly it continues to pick the hydro plants that are in service, it clearly continues to pick the nuclear plants that are in service. And and so it is hard for me to predict based on what we know right now, you know, and based on what the question is, it’s going to continue to predict you know similar products that we have in service in the Tennessee Valley because those are highly reliable and most cost effective. But is as the economy changes and as the fuel prices changes, it will change with the the way the economy and the way you know fuel prices are shifting and the way the supply chain system is providing products. So I can’t answer, you know, I can tell you what the model says right now, which is what the IRP, and so and I’ve already told you that answer, but in five years or 10 years from now, it could completely reverse, and then we’ll have to align with what it’s projecting and picking.
Heidi Smith:
Yeah, I think the the and you mentioned this, Cortney, the whole notion or idea of an IRP. So that when companies are looking at regions, you know, that sets up our foundation for how we’re gonna operate. And that that gives comfort to companies knowing that we are looking ahead and we’re looking towards the future and we’re positioning our region to be as competitive as possible. So it’s it’s a good message for companies that are considering making investments.
Cortney Piper:
Many people will hear AI or data centers and immediately think either unlimited opportunity or significant risk. So, from TVA’s perspective, what are the most misunderstood benefits and most misunderstood risks? And how can TVA industry and organizations like TAEBC work together to improve public understanding?
Mike Skaggs:
So let’s start off with the negatives. I think one of the misunderstandings of data centers of water usage. The regional data centers, some of them did have open water systems. So the current ones now, the ones that are being put in service now, have closed closed loop water systems, which essentially means it’s just recycling the water over and over again. So it once the initial water system is filled, it might need minimal makeup on a monthly basis, but chemicals do be are added into the water cooling system, but it’s closed loop, so the use of water is extremely low. so I don’t I don’t believe that to be concerned. I think the there was some noise issues in the data centers originally. that’s been solved by the way the structures are being built. so the the noise is actually encapsulated within the buildings, for example. They don’t make a loud noise, they don’t make a static noise, they make a beeping noise mainly. There is some static noise, but none of the new normal data centers actually you can co-perceptible noise on the outside of the buildings. I I I think the positives are they do bring significant, I mean they’re extremely expensive to be built, and the initial installation and construction work as well as design work, they that’s an economic boom to that area. And Heidi can expand on that here a little bit. Secondly, the the systems do attract other businesses to that area. so that is another positive. And thirdly, I I believe that the artificial intelligence that is underway right now, that revolution or evolution of artificial intelligence, I think it’s gonna help us continue to bring higher levels of security to the United States, which I do believe we need to do. so I see that as a as a benefit. So, Heidi, do you have anything you would like to add to that?
Heidi Smith:
Yeah, you know, I would say Cortney, it’s like any industry that comes to look at a community or a state. I think the community or the state need to understand the pros and cons of that industry. And is it that a fit? Is that a fit for that local community? Just like any other industry, what what they do, how how do they pay their workers, you know, what kind of work environment it is. So I think it’s just really understanding the industry better. What does it bring with it? I might mention some of the positive things that it that do come from data centers, but really understanding what comes from it, is it a good fit, and is it something that’s going to continue to grow your your region and your economy? So I think all of those from any industry community should be questioning that on all on all fronts every time.
Cortney Piper:
Shifting gears, Mike, you had mentioned at the Now conference yesterday this potential Japanese trade deal where Japan may invest up to 40 billion in small nuclear reactors, including at TBA’s proposed Clinch River site. Can you talk just a little bit more and expand about just a little bit more on those comments that you offered about this deal at the at the Now conference for our attendees today?
Mike Skaggs:
So General Electric, Bernova and Hitachi, which is a consortium or partnership of those different companies, they represent the design of a boiling water reactor, advanced reactor that produces 330 megawatts of energy, and their goal or aspirations are to build multiple of those units at the Clinch Riverside. As probably most are aware, TVA is close to gaining a construction permit to be able to build those type of units at the Clinch Riverside. the number of units is still under discussion, but it’s more than one. I’ll leave it like that. So what that entails is understanding of everybody’s roles and responsibilities around this project. And so that is part of the negotiation and part of the work that still is continuing. these energy contracts are very large and very complex, and if not the biggest type of energy contract that has ever been done, they border on or they’re very close to being they’re very close to being the biggest. so ensuring that we get all this correct and make sure that we understand who’s gonna perform what functions is critical. And so that’s the part of the work that’s going on. Clearly GE’s responsible as well as Vernova and Hatachi is responsible for the design work as well as the components. So that’s taken up. But just understanding the oversight roles and just the classical roles, roles that are involved in building a nuclear plant power plant, for example, like quality assurance, licensing, who’s gonna the leadership, how we’re gonna find leadership to adequately lead this project going forward, as well as the transitional phases from design through construction through testing through the commissioning, all that’s gotta be well planned out and well thought out. And as well as we can going over the lessons learned of the industry, the nuclear industry in the past, and ensure that those lessons learned are built into the approach work that would be performed at Clinch River to ensure that the costs are kept down as low as possible and that the schedule is performed as quickly as it can be done, but completed safely, such that at the end of the day the plant is the most reliable. On top of that, also is there’ll be transmission work that’d be needed to be complete to ensure that the plant is tied in. And then the other things that I talked about earlier around the four principles is understanding who’s going to be the market off taker and for example where that data center would be located such that it’s close enough to the plant to ensure the intense high reliability that it needs, as well as you know, locating it close enough to reduce the costs associated with increasing the transmission system to attach it to the grid. So that’s some of the work that’s going on. TVA is by our involvement because we own the land, by our involvement because we’ll be the operator of the plant. We’re very engaged in ensuring that the oversight for the plant is done appropriately and correctly, that the oversight of engineering products is done correctly. And that’s all to ensure that you know the plant that we would end up operating is safe and reliable, and that you know we’ll be responsible for the end product, as well as you know, negotiating with a Nuclear Regulatory Commission on fulfilling their duties to ensure that it’s safe and operated correctly. So those are just some of the aspects, you know. Clearly, we would have to find additional operators to operate the plant. They would have to be trained and qualified on that design. And so those are just some of the aspects that have to be dealt with from you know as we continue to negotiate our way through to a successful.
Cortney Piper:
Okay, great. And Mike and Heidi, we do have another question about the bring your own power framework. So perhaps we should just repeat the answer to your question. this one is framed more around with all this additional economic development and the speed at which these projects are moving. Is TVA considering a bring your own power framework? and if not, what are the barriers and what would need to change to make that possible? So I know that you all have already answered this, but perhaps the answer bears repeating.
Heidi Smith:
I think it’s really from for economic development. So traditional economic development projects, you know, the advanced manufacturing, you know, kind of the industry sector that I laid out on one of my slides, oftentimes it’s really about understanding how they’re going to scale the power. Occasionally, a conversation will come up about whether we can bring on-site generation? But usually as we navigate and communicate within TVA and also with that in-use company, a lot of times they find their own solutions and it’s not as prevalent as it is with the data center industry. So that industry sector is more advanced in bringing that on-site generation. The traditional manufacturing, it will come up, but we haven’t we haven’t had a real opportunity to explore that in full capacity. But the data center industry, it is.
Cortney Piper:
We’re gonna keep on that thread of AI and data centers because it is a hot topic. Are you all seeing any system issues with the data centers you currently have?
Mike Skaggs:
So we’ve seen some variability or fluctuating of loads on some of the initial data centers, but I would tell you that the transmission engineers and the planning group and transmission has done a very nice job of of the work that they’re required to do before we allow the data center to connect to the grid. So I think the initial problems that we saw and fluctuations, it’s been dealt with very well. You know, I hate to put a percent to it, but I would say that you know we’re not seeing any significant issues. so I would say that the work that the transmission engineers have done so far and they continue to do has done a good job to ensure that the grid is stable and reliable, and I expect them to continue to do that service because that’s one of their primary objectives is to ensure that our grid, you know, is strong, reliable, resilient, and that and that’s what that means to me. So we had some initial issues, but I would say that those have been essentially been resolved, and that our approach to grid or transmission system upgrades continues to ensure that our standards, which include you know, fluctuations and load stability, are incorporated in that and they do a nice job of ensuring that that gets done.
Cortney Piper:
All right. Well, I’m not seeing any more questions in our QA box. So we are going to close it out. Mike Skaggs, interim president and CEO, Heidi Smith, Vice President of Economic Development. Thank you all for joining us today on our TABC Lunch and Learn Zoom. To all of our attendees, thank you for joining us today. If you are not a member of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, we’d love to have you on our team so you can go to tnadvancedenergy.com to find out more about us. Our next event is November. It’s Opportunities in Energy. We’ll send you all a link to that. Early bird registration is now open. And we hope to see you there. So thank you all again and have a good day. And that’s our show. Thanks for tuning in to Energizing Tennessee, powered by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, your number one podcast for news about Tennessee’s advanced energy sector. If you like what you heard, please share it with others or leave a rating and review. To catch the latest episodes, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget to follow TAEBC on social media or sign up for our newsletter to hear about our events and learn even more about Tennessee’s growing advanced energy economy. Thank you for listening to Energizing Tennessee.