Clean Air

TVA has a long record of improving air quality and investing in controls at its 11 coal-fired power plants to make the air cleaner.

Air quality across the TVA region, including the Smoky Mountains, is the best it has been in more than 30 years and is getting better.

In 2009, TVA’s sulfur dioxide emissions were down 91 percent from their 1977 peak and nitrogen oxide emissions were down 89 percent since 1995.
While economic conditions contributed to less fossil generation and somewhat lower emissions in 2009, TVA continues to have one of the strongest and most effective records in the industry in removing these pollutants.
TVA has invested more than $5.3 billion since 1977 to reduce coal-fired power plant emissions, including $172 million in 2009.
TVA estimates that it may spend an additional $4.2 billion on further clean-air improvements in the next 10 years.
TVA has installed nitrogen oxide controls, such as Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, or is using other NOx reduction technologies on all 59 of its coal-fired boilers. Ten scrubbers have been built at five plants to control sulfur dioxide emissions from 17 of the largest coal units.
TVA expects to have emission controls on more than 80 percent of its fossil fuel generation in the next 10 years.

In 2009, about 40 percent of the TVA power supply came from nuclear, hydro, and renewable fuels that do not emit carbon dioxide.
TVA has contracted to buy 1,380 megawatts of wind energy from turbine sites in the West and Midwest scheduled to start up by 2012. The first 300 megawatts entered TVA’s grid in 2010.
In 1995, TVA was the first utility in the nation to participate in a voluntary greenhouse gas reduction program sponsored by the Department of Energy.
In the past decade, TVA has cut, avoided or captured more than 305 million tons of carbon dioxide under the voluntary reduction program.
TVA is working to further reduce carbon output by completing a second nuclear unit at Watts Bar and increasing the capacity of existing nuclear and hydro units.
TVA is evaluating plans to complete one of the partially built nuclear reactors at the Bellefonte site or build an advanced design reactor at the site.

June 2010