Displaying items by tag: kingston fossil plant retirement
Momentum builds slowly for TVA’s post-coal plans
Supercomputer simulation of plasma turbulence in a spherical tokamak, which is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. Image courtesy of Walter Guttenfelder, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Filippo Scotti, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via DOE.
Fusion research, natural gas, solar power and battery improvements at heart of TVA’s plans to wean itself off coal
OAK RIDGE — The Tennessee Valley Authority is phasing out coal and announcing developments tied to other energy sources at two plants that sit on either side of Oak Ridge.
One of the options includes a fusion test site. Scientists have long pursued fusion energy, though the technology remains in infancy and has yet to generate electricity anywhere.
The TVA coal plant on Edgemoor Road in the Claxton community in Anderson County closed Dec. 1 last year. TVA remains uncommitted to any plans for most of the land around the plant. A company recently announced, however, that it plans tests connected to fusion power in a small part of one of Bull Run’s old buildings by 2028. It will be an experiment and not generate power directly.
Meanwhile, TVA plans to retire Kingston Fossil Plant on Swan Pond Road in Harriman by the end of 2027. Its nine coal-fired units power about 818,000 homes. To replace the power generated at the plant, TVA plans to build a new complex at the Kingston plant’s site, combining natural gas, solar power and battery storage.
TVA plans to retire all its coal plants by the 2030s.
15 years on, Roane County honors victims of 2008 TVA coal ash spill
Workers with engineering firm responsible for cleanup lacked protective gear for handling toxic agents
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
KINGSTON — The Roane County Commission this month honored the memory and labor of the workers who cleaned up the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 2008 Kingston coal ash spill by funding a historical marker and approving a proclamation that Dec. 22 will be a day to honor the workers.
This December marks 15 years since the spill. In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2008 at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash was released, spilling into the Swan Pond Embayment and the Emory River Channel, covering about 300 acres, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal ash is the concentrated waste left after burning coal. This waste can come in different sized particles from coarse bottom ash with the consistency of sand and gravel to fine dust like particles that compose fly ash. The smaller the particle the more easily these particles can be inhaled or ingested. This waste can contain heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and cadmium and potentially elements that emit radiation.
Exposure to these elements can potentially cause various health impacts, including cancers.
- kingston ash spill
- kingston coal ash spill
- kingston fossil plant retirement
- kingston coal ash worker
- roane county commission kingston ash spill
- swan pond kingston
- jamie satterfield
- federal coal ash rule
- advocacy and education about coal ash
- remember kingston
- personal protective equipment
- ppe
- dec 22 day of remembrance for coal ash cleanup workers
Citizens continue call for TVA to adopt sustainable alternatives to coal plants
Citizens are objecting to plans to replace the coal boilers at Kingston Fossil Plant with natural gas. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
Solar? Gas? Future of Kingston plant up in the air
KINGSTON — Tennessee Valley Authority is considering whether to go with gas or solar power after it closes the infamous Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee.
The plant has stood since 1955 in Roane County. The federal utility plans to close Kingston Fossil plant and is looking at ways to replace the power it generated. It’s asking the public for comments. The utility’s proposals center around replacing the power generated by the plant with either solar generation or natural gas. One option includes replacing the coal-powered plant at the site with a fossil gas plant.
TVA recently proposed to retire three units between 2026 and 2031 and the other six units between 2027 and 2033. Ash spilled from a dike at this plant in 2008. A lawsuit was recently resolved surrounding the health damage to people working on cleaning up the spill. TVA has identified trouble with starting up and shutting down the plant for power generation and technical issues with lower boilers as the reasons for closing the plant, not the spill.
TVA reopens public meetings to .... the public
A public demonstration in September 2021 in Market Square in Knoxville demanding TVA resume public meetings with reasonable pandemic safeguards. Courtesy Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
After pandemic starts and stutters, TVA finally allows personal public input at meetings
KNOXVILLE
For the first time in nearly two years, the publicly owned Tennessee Valley Authority will host a public listening session on the day prior to its next board of directors meeting.
Since shifting to virtual board meetings in 2020, TVA diverged from other utilities across the country by not holding a single virtual public listening session. In addition, written comments submitted by ratepayers prior to board meetings have not been shared with the media or the public.
100 citizens attend ‘People’s Hearing’ on TVA and demand more accountability, transparency
Attendees raise concerns about coal ash; call for more clean energy, transparency and public engagement from TVA
Nearly 100 people from Tennessee and other states served by the Tennessee Valley Authority joined a virtual People’s TVA Hearing. The hearing on Aug. 4 was organized by the Tennessee Valley Energy Democracy Movement (TVEDM). It included a public comment session and multiple breakout sessions for attendees to discuss specific issues facing TVA and the Tennessee Valley.
TVA has not held any public listening sessions in a year and a half because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and attendees called on TVA to resume such sessions as soon as possible when the pandemic ebbs.
“TVA talks a good game about being public power but they are simply not walking the walk,” said Barbara Mott of Knoxville. “Hiding from the people is not the answer.”
FGS calls on TVA to get serious about addressing the climate crisis
As Hellbender Press reported in April, the Tennessee Valley Authority plans to phase out its use of coal. And as we mentioned in an action alert, TVA is conducting a scoping process pertaining to the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for retirement and replacement of the Kingston Fossil Plant. TVA is preparing similar EIS for its other remaining coal-fired power plants as well.
Although TVA lists "construction and operation of solar and storage facilities" in these scoping documents as an alternative for replacement of coal as the power source, it has made no secret of its belief that construction of gas-powered combustion turbines (CT) and natural gas pipelines to feed them will be the best solution to replace the outdated generation capacity.
Unlike other power utilities, TVA has been making it more difficult, financially unattractive or impossible for distributed renewable energy, storage and even efficiency projects to get realized, according to proponents of renewables and some of TVA’s local power distribution partners. TVA also reneged on its agreement with other utilities to make large amounts of wind power available to the Southeastern United States through the Plains & Eastern Clean Line high-voltage direct-current power line project.
- tennessee valley authority
- tva
- foundation for global sustainability
- fgs
- climate change
- climate crisis
- electric utility
- power plant replacement
- fossil fuel
- coalfired power plant
- gasfired power plant
- gas pipeline
- kingston fossil plant retirement
- distributed electricity generation and storage
- distributed energy resource
- solar energy
- power storage
- stranded asset
- germany
- renewable energy
- decarbonization
- plains & eastern clean line
Tell TVA: Don’t replace Kingston Coal with new fossil gas plants or pipelines!
Remember TVA’s 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to retire the Kingston plant and its four other remaining coal-fired power plants by 2035.
But it is seriously considering replacing them with large fossil gas power plants and new gas pipelines!
Natural gas is cleaner than coal, but is yet another fossil fuel source that releases carbon dioxide. Such a replacement would be contrary to the national and global consensus that we must reduce the use of fossil fuels quickly to constrain the runaway climate crisis as much as we can.
A plan based on emerging technologies for increased energy efficiency combined with distributed use of renewable energies and energy storage can increase community resilience; create more good, long-term jobs; diversify local business opportunities; and provide immediate public health benefits.
TVA accepts public comments electronically through the end of July 15, 2021.
Don’t miss the opportunity to tell TVA that customers don’t want to pay for a yesteryear “solution” that does not really address the clear and present dangers to humanity. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has made it easy for you:
Submit your comment to TVA by tapping or clicking this link NOW:
Tell TVA, No New Fossil Gas Plants + Pipelines
You can also email TVA directly attn: Chevales Williams, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Source: TVA — Kingston Fossil Plant Retirement
- kingston fossil plant retirement
- tennessee valley authority
- tva
- coalfired power plant
- peaker power
- fossil fuel
- decarbonize
- electric power
- electric power plant
- kif
- fossil gas power plant
- natural gas
- power plant replacement
- coal ash spill
- coal fly ash slurry
- public comment
- renewable energy
- southern alliance for clean energy
- carbon dioxide
- co2
- energy storage
- distributed electricity generation and storage
- battery storage
- climate crisis