TVA sets power records during August

TVA sets power records during August

	Published : Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:33 By : Agencies Print this Story

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - For many, the end of August and a record-breaking heat wave couldn't have come soon enough, though a lack of rainfall will continue to be a factor for months to come.

The Tennessee Valley Authority set 13 peak power demand records -- more than one every three days -- during the month, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said Friday.

The federal utility set an all-time record of 33,499 megawatts on Aug. 16 when the average temperature in the valley hit 103.6 degrees -- the highest average for TVA's seven-state region in 55 years.

A thousand megawatts powers about 550,000 homes in the utility's coverage area, which includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.

TVA called for voluntary conservation measures from residential users and major industrial customers. Its coal-fired power plants doubled their previous record -- when all 59 boilers ran continuously for more than 14 consecutive days.

But TVA had to idle one reactor for a few days and reduce power in two others at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama because of overheated water in the Tennessee River, which is used to cool the plant.

The TVA region is experiencing one of the driest January-August periods in 118 years of record keeping, Francis said.

'We are running like 15 inches below normal for the valley,' he said.

In the eastern part of the valley, tributary reservoirs north of Knoxville, such as Douglas and Cherokee, are 23 feet below normal.

Under TVA's reservoir management plan, Labor Day traditionally is the start of the winter drawdown of the lakes to provide cheap hydroelectric power and storage for spring rains that historically flooded Chattanooga. That won't happen this year.

'Some of the tributaries are already at winter pool or near that,' Francis said.

These lakes won't be drawn down further except to maintain minimum water flows to ensure water quality and supply for navigation and aquatic habitat, with little new hydroelectric production.

'In other words, the least amount of water that we can move, we will move,' he said. 'We will do that until we get enough rain to kind of replenish the water that we need behind the reservoirs.'