Considered the Tennessee Valley Authority’s “Mightiest,” Kentucky Dam is currently celebrating 80 years of operation this month — providing clean, reliable energy to residents and businesses of southeastern portion of the United States.
Having opened Summer 1944, with former President Harry Truman in attendance, the structure is more than 200 feet high and 8,400 feet long, and now has five operating units capable of producing more than 225 megawatts of power.
That’s enough electricity for more than 220,000 homes.
KT Duffy, plant manager, said the Dam’s original technology is mostly intact. There have been upgrades on some control systems in order to maintain and operate turbine speeds and output, but the design hasn’t changed in eight decades.
Furthermore, hydroelectric power remains as TVA’s cleanest, most efficient, most reliable and most economical of all renewable resource options. Nearly 10% of TVA’s power generation comes from 29 dams in the Tennessee River system.
Kentucky Dam also serves the purpose of reducing flood damage potential on more than 6 million acres on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and it reduces the frequency flooding on another 4 million acres.
Responsible for this 10 million, or so, acres, Duffy said, is a dozen employees.
Retirees with TVA’s Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc., staff the Kentucky Dam Visitor’s Center, which welcomed about 30,000 guests in 2023.
The visitor’s center is open from 9 AM until 5 PM, through the first weekend of April until the last Sunday in October.
