The Tennessee Valley Authority said Wednesday that it is expanding its grid capacity by 500 megawatts thanks to new gas turbines at a facility close to Nashville.
According to a news release from TVA, the Johnsonville Combustion Turbine Plant has completed ten additional aeroderivative gas turbines, increasing its overall capacity to over 1,200 megawatts.
According to TVA senior project manager Justin McBath, the turbines are made to swiftly ramp up and down or shut off when not in use.
According to McBath, they have a fast-start option. In five minutes, a cold engine can reach maximum power, producing 50 megawatts per unit. In fact, under ideal circumstances, engines can produce up to 57 or 59 megawatts.
TVA claims that around 300,000 households can be powered with 500 megawatts. Through 25 local power companies, including Huntsville Utilities, the TVA provides service to over 1.2 million customers in northern Alabama.
According to TVA, the aeroderivative turbines’ fast-start function will assist in supplying electricity during daily and seasonal electricity demand peaks. Although TVA is working on 16 more turbines at its 1,500-megawatt energy complex on the site of Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, the Johnsonville turbines are the first to go online.
More than 3,500 of the 6,200 megawatts of new generation that TVA has planned for the near future are already being built. According to the utility, that would be sufficient to power around two million houses.
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