(P&GJ) — Black Bear Transmission LLC has announced that its AlaTenn pipeline system has started delivering natural gas supply for commissioning of three new natural gas-fueled power plant units owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Alabama’s Colbert County.
Commissioning of the new units is the culmination of a multiyear collaborative effort between TVA and AlaTenn. The new units will begin commercial operation later this year.
TVA published an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) in 2019, which highlighted the need to expand TVA’s diverse energy portfolio, including adding more natural gas that is firm, dispatchable and allows more renewables to be brought on to the system. The IRP process allows stakeholders to review TVA’s planning information and help shape business decisions on ways TVA can best meet future demand for power that is affordable, reliable and clean.
TVA then conducted a process in 2020 to identify eligible locations for new natural gas-fired generating capacity. In 2021, AlaTenn and TVA signed a 15-year transportation agreement, which supported the construction of new pipeline facilities to transport additional natural gas to TVA’s Power Plant in Colbert County, Alabama. AlaTenn completed construction of its facilities in the fourth quarter of 2022.
TVA’s new power generating units will add approximately 750 megawatts of natural gas-fueled generating capacity to the Colbert Plant site, which is a location where TVA previously retired a coal plant in 2016.