The National Weather Service predicts potentially 100-degree weather in Nashville this week, and the Tennessee Valley Authority says it’s ready to meet the elevated electricity demand.
TVA anticipates that 30,500 megawatts of power will be needed Thursday afternoon to keep air conditioners humming, which is close to TVA’s peak of 33,000 megawatts in 2008.
That’s below TVA’s capacity, but official Aaron Paul Melda said there are ways customers can help reduce the total power needed during the extreme heat, which is expected to peak between 2 and 5 p.m.
“In the afternoon, try to avoid doing to the dishes or doing your wash. If you turn your thermostat down a couple degrees that can make a pretty big difference. Keeping blinds and shades closed really helps,” Melda said, adding that forgoing the kitchen oven Thursday would also reduce energy use.
TVA’s transmission grid was built to feature coal, nuclear and gas plants. These centralized power sources comprise about 95% of TVA’s total power mix, and energy efficiency, wind and solar sources contribute the remaining 5% of generation.
As the nation’s utilities begin to steer away from fossil fuels, the predominant driver of climate change, energy experts have said there are opportunities to improve grid reliability with customer incentives for energy efficiency, distributed energy resources like community solar farms and long-term planning for extreme peaks.
“From a reliability standpoint, the more energy efficiency that’s deployed across the Valley, the less that we need to build to respond to these types of situations,” Melda said. Small solar and battery systems, he said, can provide “a lower-cost energy source and a level of resiliency.”
In recent years, clean energy advocates have criticized TVA for actions seen as impeding energy efficiency and customer-sited solar. Since 2014, TVA cut its energy efficiency budget by more than two-thirds and canceled one of its renewable energy programs for distributed generation.
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