ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority said changes are in store this winter season after record demand and several problems last year. TVA reported its highest-ever winter power demand in December 2022, forcing the agency to order rolling blackouts for the first time. Those blackouts affected thousands of TVA customers.
"In layman's terms, it's turning the switch off on your power and leaving you in the dark for a period of time," said Chuck Bowlin, Greeneville Energy Authority's CEO.
Chuck says TVA called him and said pipes froze in the freezing temperatures and they'd need to conduct rolling blackouts for the first time in TVA history. The TVA said it hopes not to repeat that this year.
"We're here to get better. We weren't aware of those severe weather conditions. We couldn't do anything about it. But now, we've seen our hard spots, we've improved them and we're moving forward," said Kate Bowling, a plant manager at TVA.
Those improvements included spending around $8 million to provide new insulation and warehouse-style sheltering for their pipes. Those winter readiness investments are part of the $123 million they have spent on their coal, gas and hydroelectricity facilities.
"I'm thankful that TVA took this whole thing seriously. Invested a lot of money and put some remediation in place. I'm very confident we are better off this year than last year," said Bowlin.
TVA said that as easily as their pipes froze over, they could also freeze inside people's homes. They said people should prepare home pipes now for the next winter storm.
"Taking a step back and looking at, 'What if this happens again, what can we all do better?' There's pipe installation and heat tracers. The same stuff we're using is available for residents," said Jerome Tripp, a plant operations manager.
TVA says no matter what, they are prepared this year.
"I know that the concerns we had here, we rectified those. If something comes out that we don't know about, there's always that potential that something can catch you by surprise," said Bowling.