Gleason Combustion Turbine Plant

The Gleason Turbine Plant is located in Weakley County in west Tennessee. TVA also operates combustion turbine plants in Haywood County, Tennessee, Marshall County, Kentucky, Kemper County, Mississippi, and has CT units at four of its coal-fired power plants.

Efficient power production to help meet peak demand

The Gleason combustion turbines run on natural gas and are designed to start quickly to meet the demand for electricity during peak operating periods. The units at the Gleason Plant can reach full power in just 20 minutes. The plant was added to TVA’s fleet because the site is interconnected to both the TVA transmission and to a natural gas pipeline.

Combustion turbines operate on the same general principle as a jet engine. Air enters at the front of the unit and is compressed, mixed with natural gas or oil, and ignited. The hot gas then expands through turbine blades to turn the generator and produce electricity.

State-of-the-art emission controls and noise management make the Gleason units more environmentally friendly than older types. When the units run on natural gas, nitrous-oxide emissions are less than 10 percent of what they were 30 years ago.

The Gleason Plant, which occupies 60 acres in the midst of Tennessee farm country, is expected to help TVA meet the rapidly growing peak demands for power.