TULLAHOMA, Tenn.  – The Tennessee Valley Authority identified a preferred location for a new transmission line that would prepare for growth and increase power reliability in the Center Grove community of Franklin County.

Duck River Electric Membership Corporation will build the Center Grove Station at 629 Blue Creek Road. TVA will build a 161-kilovolt transmission line from the existing Franklin-Belfast 161-kilovolt transmission line to the new substation. The new line would be less than 4 miles and built using primarily single-pole, steel structures on a new 100-foot-wide right of way.  The preferred route is one of several proposed at TVA’s virtual open house held this Spring. 

The selected route is expected to have the least impact on the area, based on public input from the virtual open house and additional evaluation of other factors, including social, environmental, and engineering impacts. A National Environmental Policy Act review is also pending.

The project will utilize a new right of way. TVA will meet with property owners along the proposed right of way to obtain easements for construction, operation, and maintenance of the line. Property owners would still own the property and be compensated for the easements at fair market value.

TVA is expected to begin surveys in fall 2022 and start acquiring easements in fall 2023. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2024 and be completed in winter 2024-2025. A map of the project and additional information are available on the TVA website at transmissionprojects.

TVA is investing over $2 billion in transmission system improvements across the service area between 2021 and 2025 to build the energy grid of the future that will continue to provide, clean, low-cost, reliable power.

For more information about TVA and its 89-year mission of service to the Tennessee Valley, click here.

Preferred route of proposed transmission line