A Few Steps Ahead

TVA Power Trader Highlights Reliability by Keeping the Grid Stable.

When people think about power, they may often think about generation – the fleet that produces the power.

But what happens when there’s excess power? Or a need for extra during times of peak demand?

Enter TVA’s Power Trading Group – where air traffic control meets commercial opportunity. This highly skilled group handles a ton of moving parts, makes instantaneous decisions and, above all, keeps power on the system.

“The reliability of the system takes precedent over everything,” Weston Dunlap, manager of the Real-Time Trading Group, said.

“Our days are always changing, always different,” Dunlap said. “We can be busy during peak times or randomly at 2 a.m. You can think you know what to expect but there are so many scenarios and variables – weather, generation, economics – that affect the grid. There’s never a dull moment.”

Electricity is bought, sold and delivered across a national power highway called the interconnection. TVA’s grid is linked to other grids across the nation, proving that TVA’s partnerships extend beyond the enterprise’s seven-state territory.

“When possible, we also try to help our neighboring utilities,” Dunlap said. “If they have an outage or need extra power, we help them. We are connected, and those relationships are important.”

Power traders work alongside TVA’s Balancing Authority to quickly make collaborative, well-informed decisions.

When power is generated, it has to go somewhere. The teams are constantly monitoring internal and external system data to see how the system needs to be optimized. These teams work together, looking ahead to orchestrate and execute a plan to keep electricity flowing.

“We have so much experience at this desk – perhaps the best in the industry,” Dunlap said. “We have to manage this puzzle when things happen. Sitting in this chair can be calm, or everything can happen at once. The scenarios are limitless. But when we get busy, I have confidence in every single person out there on the real-time desk to figure out the puzzle.

“The best asset we have here is the people. Their knowledge is tremendous.”

Dunlap and other power traders are cut from the same cloth – proactive, analytical, strategic and always a few steps ahead.

When he’s not making high-stakes decisions at work or hanging out with his family, Dunlap is on the golf course. Turns out, the technical precision of power trading also translates to the green – where his mind is always focused on the shot a few swings ahead.

“It’s all about making the most informed decisions you can,” he said. “There's going to be times when your shot goes astray. You have to be calm under pressure.”