SPENCER, Tenn. – The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to construct a transmission line that would provide power to the Spencer Substation.

The decision is the result of an Environmental Assessment by TVA that examined the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed transmission line.

A finding of no significant impact was issued on the decision Feb. 18.

Under the preferred alternative, TVA proposes to construct, operate, and maintain a 161-kilovolt transmission line in Van Buren County, Tennessee. The line would supply electric power to the upgraded Spencer 161-kilovolt Substation, which is being constructed by Caney Fork Electric Cooperative, a local distributor of TVA power.

CFEC plans to upgrade the existing 46-kV substation to a 161-kV substation and has requested that TVA provide a new 161-kV delivery point to the substation. The new transmission line would connect the upgraded 161-kV substation to TVA’s existing Watts Bar Hydro Plant–Great Falls Hydro Plant 161-kV transmission line.

The transmission line would be built on 4.6 miles of 100-foot-wide right-of-way and would occupy approximately 57 acres of new ROW.  After the new facilities are in service, TVA would retire and remove their existing 18.5 mile Great Falls Hydro Plant-Spencer 46-kV transmission line and associated equipment in the Great Falls Hydro Plant 46-kV switchyard.

The final Environmental Assessment is available online here or by contacting Anita E. Masters, NEPA Project Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101 Market St., Mail Stop BR 4A, Chattanooga, TN, 37402 or [email protected].

For more information about TVA and its 82-year mission of service to the Tennessee Valley, click here.