TVA Power Savings Could Come from Energy Efficient Appliances

The mass installation of such energy efficiency measures as compact fluorescent lighting and heating and cooling systems could effectively flatten Tennessee’s power demand for the next 18 years, according to research commissioned by utility Tennessee Valley Authority.

The research by Global Energy Partners estimated the region’s achievable savings potential at 3,256 to 7,494 gigawatt-hours by 2015 – reducing energy use over five years by 2.2 percent, or 5 percent of TVA’s sales.

The high end of this range would roughly equal the amount of electricity produced by a large coal-fired power plant in a year; or the amount of electricity used annually by 500,000 Tennessee homes, TVA said.

The findings are consistent with TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan, the agency’s 20-year energy strategy, and TVA’s plans for energy-efficiency and demand response programs. That plan calls for TVA to achieve combined energy savings of 5.4 percent of TVA’s sales by 2020. The five-year plan calls for combined annual energy efficiency and demand response savings of 2.9 percent by 2015.

Homes have the most energy savings potential, followed by businesses and industry, the report says. Industrial sector savings potential comes from energy efficiency improvements in machine drives and motors, fan and pump systems, and equipment upgrades.

In April last year, the TVA agreed to spend between $3 billion and $5 billion on pollution controls after reaching a settlement with the EPA, over alleged Clean Air Act Violations at all 11 of its coal-fired plants.