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TVA officials said Tuesday the utility is expecting its load on Thursday to top 30,000 megawatts as the region experiences the hottest weather of the year.
“Our priority is to maintain the reliability of the power system to help ensure safety and comfort. Everyone can do their part to save energy and help keep money where it belongs — in their pockets,” said Aaron Melda, TVA Power Supply Senior Vice President.
Melda said TVA continually monitors weather forecasts, and has plans and processes in place to adjust generation and transmission resources to meed the expected demand. Among the resources in place as outlined by Melda are:
• TVA’s diverse generation fleet — the nation’s third largest — provides us flexibility to provide energy from many different sources.
• TVA’s transmission system is interconnected to a broad regional energy system that allows us to purchase additional power in times of unusually high demand.
• TVA is constructing a new, state-of-the-art system operations center and investing in the latest transmission control capabilities to expand our system resilience under any demand condition.
“For this current weather event, we’ve already taken steps to strengthen the resiliency of our generation and transmission system, and we will take others, as needed, to keep customers cool and the lights on,” said Melda.
You can help keep your own power bill under control — and ensure there is plenty of power available for everyone — by taking some steps today to lower your electricity use while still staying cool. Among the steps to take are:
• Turn up thermostats — even one degree makes a difference!
• Use fans to move air — they use far less power than your AC!
• Keep the blinds on the sunny side of your house closed — no need to deal with more unnecessary heat!