Many of you know that when I travel, I tend to start to wonder about that state’s energy sector. What fuels it? What makes it different from Colorado and Wyoming?
This weekend, I was in Nashville, Tennessee – “Music City.” I started to wonder, besides being the home of country music and amazingly fun honky tonks where folks from all over the country come to kick their heels up, what fuels Tennessee?
It’s not all country music, hot chicken, cowboy boots and southern hospitality. Tennessee has more going on in the energy sector than one might think at first blush. Biofuel, a little oil, hydroelectric power, coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar…Tennessee has it all.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (“EIA”) state profile on Tennessee:
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Most of Tennessee’s electricity generation is supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (“TVA”) Watts Bar 2, which is the nation’s first new nuclear power reactor in the 21st century (which began operating about a year ago)
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The TVA operates:
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19 dams
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2 nuclear power plants
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7 natural gas-fired generating plants
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6 coal-fired plants
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Tennessee is home to the nation’s third-largest pumped storage hydroelectric generating facility and more than 2 dozen hydroelectric dams
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In 2016, it had the 8th highest net generation from hydroelectric power in the nation
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Tennessee is home to the Southeast’s first major wind farm, which has been operating since 2000 – it is located on Tennessee’s Buffalo Mountain
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Selmer, Tennessee is home to the largest solar facilities in the state
While crude oil production in the state is low, the state’s energy profile is very diverse. A more detailed discussion on Tennessee’s energy profile can be found here.
It can be easy to overlook what each state has going on in its own unique energy sector. Tennessee is one of those places that will surprise you with all it has going on, even in its energy profile!
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