TVA Lunch and Learn 2025  

The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC) recently hosted its annual Lunch and Learn with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), featuring Doug Perry, Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development at TVA. Perry walked attendees through TVA’s Valley Vision, a long-term initiative designed to evolve the Valley’s public power model, integrate emerging technologies and meet the region’s rapidly growing energy needs.

From Utility Model to Valley Vision

TVA is one of the largest utilities in the world, supplying power through 153 local power companies (LPCs) and serving large industries directly. For decades, the model was simple: generate reliable, low-cost electricity and distribute it to customers through LPCs. But in recent years, demand-side changes challenged TVA to evolve.

By the mid-2010s, businesses and communities began requesting reliable and clean power around the clock. Cities like Knoxville and military bases near Memphis sought solar and battery projects for resilience and carbon reduction.

To meet these demands while protecting reliability, TVA launched long-term partnership agreements with LPCs, giving them five percent flexibility to generate their own power. Today, 148 of 153 LPCs have signed on, resulting in hundreds of megawatts of community-driven solar and storage projects.

Valley Vision: Three Focus Areas

Launched in 2022, Valley Vision began as “Valley Vision 2035” and included 18 months of collaboration with LPCs, industries, military bases, research institutions and tech leaders. Today, TVA is two-and-a-half years into the initiative, focusing on three main streams of work.

First, Valley Vision is prioritizing optionality and autonomy for LPCs to meet local and community needs, while maintaining fair pricing that protects all ratepayers. Valley Vision is also focused on DER integration & enablement by expanding the capabilities to enable dynamic, two-way communication between TVA and LPC systems. Lastly, the Valley Vision initiative is working on collaborative system-wide planning and operations, enabling long-term value creation and optimization of all Valley resources.

Market Forces Driving Change

Perry identified three major forces shaping TVA’s strategy:

  • Decentralization is driving a shift from large, centralized generation to smaller, distributed resources such as batteries, solar installations and even electric vehicle chargers capable of feeding power back into the grid.
  • Load growth is surging as the Valley experiences record population and economic expansion, fueled in part by post-pandemic migration.
  • Electrification is also on the rise, with the share of total energy use from electricity projected to double from 20 to 40 percent over the next generation.

Innovations and Opportunities

TVA is exploring a range of emerging technologies and solutions to strengthen the region’s energy future. In the realm of energy storage, hundreds of megawatts of battery projects are in development, particularly at the distribution level to improve grid optimization. 

TVA is working with LPCs on a smart thermostat program, which now has roughly 18,000 devices enrolled, providing more than 35 MW of flexible capacity during peak demand events. The utility is also pursuing nuclear advancements, such as small modular reactors, molten salt reactors and partnerships with companies like ENTRA1, Oklo, Type One Energy, Google and Kairos Power. Additionally, TVA is building public-private partnerships with innovators, incubators and venture-backed companies to deliver cost-effective advanced energy solutions.

Looking Ahead

Perry emphasized that pricing reform is essential to support innovation, flexibility and fairness. TVA’s priority is to continue providing reliable, affordable power – ensuring that new programs do not raise costs for ratepayers.

TVA hopes to advance several Valley Vision initiatives in the next six to twelve months, pending the addition of new board members to form a quorum. “We are listening to our customers,” Perry said. “Bring us your solutions. Help us be smarter and serve you better. Everything we do, we do in partnership, and we want to continue working together with local power companies and local communities to ensure the Tennessee Valley region prospers for generations to come.”

Missed the event? Watch the webinar recording here and sign up for TAEBC’s newsletter to stay informed on advanced energy developments in Tennessee. Not a member yet? Join TAEBC today and be part of an influential organization that champions advanced energy as a job creation and economic development strategy.