Kingston Fossil Plant Retirement

Roane County, Tennessee

Environmental Impact Statement

On April 2, 2024, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) issued a Record of Decision (ROD) to adopt TVA’s Preferred Alternative, Alternative A of the Kingston Fossil Plant (KIF) Retirement Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which involves the retirement of KIF, including the decommissioning and demolition of the nine coal units, and the construction and operation of a Combined Cycle gas plant paired with a dual-fuel Aero Combustion Turbine Plant and new switchyard, a 3 to 4 megawatt solar site, a 100 megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), new transmission line infrastructure and connections on the Kingston Reservation, and the connected action of a 122-mile natural gas pipeline. This least-cost alternative would achieve the purpose and need of the project to retire and decommission the nine KIF units by the end of 2027, and to provide replacement generation that can supply 1,500 megawatts of firm, dispatchable power to ensure that TVA is able to meet required year-round generation, maximum capacity system demands and planning reserve margin targets, particularly during peak load events.

Following the publication of the 2019 IRP, TVA began conducting end-of-life evaluations of our coal fleet to inform long-term planning. The aging coal fleet is experiencing deterioration of material condition and performance challenges. The performance challenges are projected to increase because of the coal fleet’s advancing age and the difficulty of adapting the fleet’s generation within the changing generation profile.

TVA’s FEIS assess the impacts associated with the proposed retirement and demolition of the nine coal-fired units at the KIF and the construction and operation of facilities to replace the retired generation. The environmental review also assesses potential impacts from proposed replacement generation. TVA considered two replacement options:

(a) The retirement of KIF, including the decommissioning and demolition of the coal units, and the construction and operation of a CC gas plant paired with a dual-fuel Aero CT Plant and new switchyard, a 3 to 4 MW solar site, a 100 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), and new transmission line infrastructure and connections on the Kingston Reservation;

(b) The retirement of KIF, including the decommissioning and demolition of the coal units, investment in the local and regional transmission system, and the construction and operation of multiple solar (15+) and BESS facilities through PPA agreements; a portion of which would be located at alternate locations in eastern Tennessee.

In addition, the FEIS evaluates actions associated with gas supply and transmission components for each alternative. The construction of a potential natural gas pipeline would be subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdiction and additional review will be undertaken by FERC in accordance with its own NEPA procedures.

Public Involvement

In June and July 2021, TVA conducted scoping on this project and requested public comments on the scope of the EIS and alternatives that should be considered. This input was critical to TVA in its development of the EIS and was summarized in a Scoping Report (see “Related Documents” below).

TVA published a Draft EIS on May 12, 2023, for public review and comment (see “Related Documents” below). During the public comment period (May 12 to July 3, 2023), TVA hosted a virtual public meeting (June 8) and public meetings in Rockwood (June 13) and Kingston (June 14) to share information about the proposal and the draft environmental analyses, to gather additional input from the public, and to answer questions and address concerns. The public submitted comments to TVA at these meetings, via an online form, and by mail and email.

TVA received 602 comments on the DEIS. TVA carefully reviewed all of the substantive comments received. To avoid repetition, TVA grouped similar comments and produced one synthesized response for each comment grouping that resulted in responses to approximately 229 comment groupings. TVA’s responses to the comments can be found in Appendix D of the Final EIS.

Recordings From the Meetings:

Virtual Meeting Recording