Cortney Piper, Executive Director of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, addressed new leadership during the Tennessee Valley Authority’s November 10 Board of Directors listening session.
Good morning. My name is Cortney Piper, and I serve as executive director of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC).
With new leadership at TVA, I wanted to use my time today to introduce, or reintroduce, TAEBC and the industry we represent, and to offer our organization as a resource to this Board and TVA leadership.
TAEBC champions advanced energy as an economic development and job creation strategy for Tennessee.
Our definition of advanced energy is technology neutral. Anything that makes energy cleaner, safer, more secure or more efficient is in the tent– it includes electricity and transportation.
This is not a niche industry in Tennessee. It is a major part of our economy.
Our most recent Advanced Energy Economic Impact Report, conducted by the University of Tennessee’s Baker School, found that advanced energy contributes nearly $56 billion to Tennessee’s GDP. The industry supports more than 420,000 jobs and more than 22,000 businesses across all 95 counties.
And importantly, advanced energy has consistently grown faster than Tennessee’s overall economy.
So when TVA makes decisions about how we generate, deliver and invest in energy, those decisions have implications well beyond the grid. They affect Tennessee’s ability to recruit companies, expand existing industries, create high-quality jobs, vibrant communities and compete for investment.
That is why TAEBC has been actively engaged in TVA’s Integrated Resource Planning process, as a member of the IRP Working Group, and why we value our continued partnership not only through working groups, committees and coalitions but events and data gathering.
Our message to TVA has always been straightforward: Tennessee and the Valley will need more energy, and meeting that demand will require us to use every tool available to us…and creating some new ones.
That means continuing to lead on advanced nuclear and emerging technologies while also deploying commercially ready resources— including solar, storage, energy efficiency and other technologies— that can help meet near-term demand.
We must focus on quickly meeting near-term demand to realize the promise of a nuclear renaissance.
It also means recognizing that some of TVA’s largest customers can be part of the solution.
Companies are investing billions of dollars in Tennessee and across the Valley, and many have their own energy and carbon-reduction goals. Rather than viewing that demand separately from resource planning, we believe there is an opportunity to harness it.
Creative public-private partnerships can bring private capital to the table, accelerate deployment of new generation and emerging technologies, keep rates low and help meet growing demand while limiting pressure on TVA’s debt ceiling.
That is the perspective TAEBC brings to these conversations: energy is economic development.
Tennessee has built an extraordinary advanced energy economy. TVA has been, and will continue to be, an asset.
As this Board and leadership team considers the new opportunities and challenges ahead, I want you to know that TAEBC and our members are ready to be a resource. We bring together companies, entrepreneurs, researchers, manufacturers and energy leaders who are developing and deploying these technologies every day.
We look forward to working with you to ensure that Tennessee and the Valley have the energy infrastructure needed not only to meet growing demand, but to compete, attract investment and lead.
Thank you.