TVA in Alabama

Fiscal Year 2011 (October 2010 – September 2011)

In fiscal year 2011, TVA sold 18 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to 17 municipal and eight cooperatively owned utilities that distribute TVA power in Alabama.
More than 479,000 households in 17 northern Alabama counties bought more than 8.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from the utilities in 2011.
Almost 96,000 commercial and industrial customers in Alabama purchased 9.2 billion kilowatt-hours. In addition, utilities in Alabama sold more than 192 million kilowatt-hours to outdoor-lighting customers.
Alabama is home to 12 directly served customers of TVA that purchased almost 5.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in fiscal year 2011.
TVA’s power revenues in Alabama totaled more than $1.6 billion in 2011, or about 15 percent of TVA operating revenues.

Distributors of TVA power serve the following Alabama counties: Calhoun, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan and Winston.
The TVA service area in Alabama covers 8,980 square miles, about 10 percent of TVA’s territory and 17 percent of Alabama. This includes an electricity service area of 8,658 square miles and a watershed management area of 6,828 square miles.

In Alabama, TVA operates three hydroelectric dams (Guntersville, Wheeler and Wilson), two coal-fired generating plants (Widows Creek and Colbert), one nuclear power plant (Browns Ferry), and one natural gas-fueled combustion turbine site (Colbert).
TVA operates one solar facility in Alabama and a 30-kilowatt site at the water treatment facility in Florence.
TVA owns or maintains 79 substations and switchyards and 2,370 miles of transmission line in Alabama.
In August 2011, the TVA board authorized completion of one nuclear unit at TVA’s Bellefonte site near Scottsboro, Alabama.

Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick reservoirs in northern Alabama have a combined surface area of about 200,000 acres and about 2,700 miles of shoreline.
Bear Creek, Upper Bear Creek, Little Bear Creek and Cedar Creek reservoirs in northwestern Alabama have a combined surface area of 8,000 acres and about 250 miles of shoreline.
TVA manages recreational, natural and cultural resources on more than 90,000 acres of public land around these reservoirs and partners with local and regional stakeholders to improve water quality, shoreline conditions and biodiversity.
Alabama residents enjoy camping, fishing, boating, swimming and other recreational opportunities provided by these reservoirs, as well as economic benefits resulting from recreation and tourism. TVA’s two reservoir campgrounds recorded 9,710 overnight stays in 2011.

TVA maintains the structural, seismic and hydrologic integrity of seven dams in Alabama, including three hydroelectric dams on the main channel of the Tennessee River (Guntersville, Wheeler, and Wilson) and four non-generating dams in the Bear Creek watershed (Bear Creek, Cedar Creek, Little Bear Creek and Upper Bear Creek).
TVA owns six locks in Alabama that serve approximately 60 Alabama ports and terminals.
Twenty-five municipalities and 11 industries in Alabama draw water from the Tennessee River system. Water also is drawn for power-plant cooling and irrigation.
TVA schedules releases from Upper Bear Creek Dam in northwestern Alabama to support canoeing and kayaking on the Bear Creek Floatway.

The TVA Power Services Shops at Muscle Shoals provide cost-effective maintenance of power system components and large industrial equipment.
Alabama and Tennessee are among the six most-improved states in energy efficiency in the past year, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Alabama moves up six spots to No. 40 on the ACEEE's 2011 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.
Alabama households had about 8.5 million kilowatt-hours of electric energy efficient savings from the completion of nearly 920 In-Home Energy Evaluations by TVA-certified evaluators and approximately 4,500 do-it-yourself home energy evaluations taken online or by paper survey.

TVA paid $115.5 million in lieu of taxes in Alabama in 2011, based on power sales and power property values in the state.

TVA works with power distributors, directly served customers, and regional, state and community organizations to create economic development opportunities for the TVA region. Economic development focuses on attracting and retaining jobs, increasing capital investment, and helping communities prepare for growth. During fiscal year 2011, 7,300 jobs were created or retained in Alabama and more than $1 billion invested.

In fiscal year 2011, TVA purchased $182 million in nonfuel materials and services from Alabama vendors.

March 2012