KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For the 10th consecutive year, Site Selection Magazine named Tennessee Valley Authority as one of the Top Utilities of the Year for outstanding economic development.

“Economic development remains a critical part of TVA’s mission and this achievement recognizes the continuing commitment of our entire team to serve the Valley,” said John Bradley, senior vice president of Economic Development. “The collaborative efforts of TVA with the states, communities and local power companies have been the key to successfully driving jobs and investment to the region.”

TVA helped attract and retain more than 60,300 jobs and $8.5 billion in business investments in the Valley during 2014. Major companies that chose to relocate operations or expand in the area include: Hankook Tire, Volkswagen, Fresenius Medical Care, Remington Arms, Beretta and Unilever.

TVA’s Economic Development team has developed a number of innovative programs to assist with this effort, including:

• InvestPrep and Megasites to enhance the marketability of sites and buildings.
• Rural Leadership Institute and the new Rural Economic Development Cabinet to train local economic development professionals and provide a “think tank” to focus on development within rural communities.
• TVA’s Valley Sustainable Communities program to assist a community’s competitiveness when businesses seek to improve their environmental accountability while relocating.

During the first 10 months of 2015, TVA’s Economic Development team helped attract and retain almost 72,000 jobs and $7.6 billion in capital investment.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving more than 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.