Officials with the Tennessee Valley Authority have announced that three newly-installed natural gas units — designed to withstand temperature extremes — have been brought online at Drakeboro’s Paradise Combined Cycle Plant.
And just in time for winter weather.
Designed to reach full power in 11 minutes, the combustion turbine units add another 750 megawatts of generation capacity to TVA’s fleet. That’s enough power for more than 440,000 homes.
The units began commercial operation December 31.
Three other such units came online at the Colbert site in northern Alabama this past July, and together add nearly 1,500 megawatts to the grid — megawatts that didn’t exist during Winter 2022-23.
TVA President & CEO Jeff Lyash noted that natural gas remains an important part of the transition to a carbon-neutral future, while maintaining reliability, quick response to load demand and improved flexibility.
Jamie Cook, TVA’s general manager of major projects, said these measures are part of a planned generation increase of 3,800 megawatts scheduled by 2028.
Many of TVA’s new units are replacing older, less-efficient ones, and natural gas is cleaner than coal-fired efforts.
Under their purview, Pennyrile Electric and Key Accounts Manager Mike Oglesby said the strengthening of the grid can only improve southwestern Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee.
More information can be found at www.tva.com/newsroom.
