Full Title: Save Energy, Grow Jobs in the Tennessee Valley
Author(s): Bri Knisley, Nikki Luke, Rory McIlmoil and James Barrett
Publisher(s): Appalachian Voices
Publication Date: July 14, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
With the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plans to close its remaining coal plants by 2035, this is a moment of potentially enormous change in the Valley’s energy system. The goal of this study is to understand how investments in energy efficiency — a key resource that has been undervalued by TVA — can bolster jobs growth across the TVA footprint while reducing energy demand. Energy efficiency is often the lowest-cost resource available to utilities and in addition to creating jobs, it improves grid reliability, reduces utility operation costs, improves comfort, and often lowers cost for building users, putting money back in the pockets of Tennessee Valley residents and businesses. Importantly, residential energy efficiency programs are among the best practices to reduce energy burden for low-income communities. This study also examines how energy efficiency could be deployed alongside renewable energy sources and battery storage as Clean Energy Portfolios that could create jobs and replace capacity from the Cumberland Fossil Plant that is scheduled to ramp down beginning in 2026 and fully close by 2033.
This combined analysis of energy efficiency job creation potential and application to replace capacity at the Cumberland Fossil Plant demonstrates the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy in resource planning for the TVA region. We provide multiple pathways whereby efficient, reliable, and renewable energy resources can be implemented to create jobs while potentially lowering energy bills and attracting business and economic development in the Tennessee Valley.