Tennessee Valley Authority
Widows Creek Fossil Plant
Widows Creek Fossil Plant, named for a creek that flows through the plant site, is located on Guntersville Reservoir on the Tennessee River in northeast Alabama. In April 2005 Widows Creek Unit 3 set a national record for a continuous run by a coal-fired unit, operating for 819 days before it was shut down for scheduled maintenance. A new record was set when TVA’s Shawnee Fossil Plant Unit 6 achieved 820 days of nonstop operation in May 2006.
Balancing efficient power production with environmental protection
Electricity is produced at Widows Creek by heating water in boilers to produce steam. Under extremely high pressure, the steam flows into a turbine that spins a generator to make electricity.
Widows Creek units 1 through 6 were idled in 2010 and 2011. Widows Creek units 7 and 8 remain active and have a combined summer net capacity of 974 megawatts. In a typical year, Widows Creek units 7 and 8 generate about 6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to supply about 400,000 homes.
Low-cost and cleaner energy
Through 2011, TVA has spent about $5.4 billion on emissions controls at its coal-fired plants to help TVA produce power as cleanly as possible. This includes installation of selective catalytic reduction systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by about 90 percent and scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions at Widows Creek.
View more information about emissions at Widows Creek and the steps TVA is taking to control them.
In support of recent environmental agreements and its vision of being one of the nation’s leading providers of low-cost and cleaner energy by 2020, TVA will retire the now idled units 1 through 6 at Widows Creek by July 31, 2015.