NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When temperatures hit record lows in December 2022, we expected some power outages. What we didn't expect — widespread outages that lasted for nearly a full day, leaving thousands of people without electricity or heat when it mattered most.
Executives from the Tennessee Valley Authority had to give a detailed account Tuesday to lawmakers about what happened, and how they will stop it from happening again.
"I know it’s probably not that pleasant of an experience for you, just as it wasn’t very pleasant for the customers of your monopoly," said Rep. Kevin Vaughn, R-Collierville.
During several moments in the House Business and Utility Subcommittee, lawmakers turned up the heat regarding those ice-cold days.
"Some days you’re a private organization, some days you’re a public organization, depending upon the topic at hand. How do you feel like this has affected your position in the marketplace with your retailers?" asked Rep. Vaughn.
"It is TVA’s goal, as I know all of our local power company’s goals, is to keep the power on all the time. And so, we will learn a lot from this. I think there is certainly an opportunity to get better in all aspects of this," said Dan Pratt, TVA's Senior Vice President of Regional Relations.
TVA stressed they're still investigating what all went wrong, but they think they can pinpoint one piece of technology failing that caused the biggest issues.
"There on the bottom right is really the sensing line, and that’s what it looked like when it failed," said Kris Edmondson, TVA's Vice President of Coal Operations
Sensing lines at several coal and natural gas plants froze, essentially making those plants inoperable as demand for power rose. That's what triggered TVA to call for rolling blackouts.
"Those sensing units need to be enclosed or be brought indoors. Is that something you guys are doing, or are you just trying to insulate them better?" asked Rep. Clark Boyd, a Republican from Lebanon.
"It’s going to be a combination of both," replied Edmondson.
"If a storm hit next week similar to this, are we in the exact same position again or have some of the measures you’ve taken, will they provide some protection we didn’t have before?" asked Rep. Boyd.
"We feel very confident that we have hardened the areas that we failed," said Edmondson.
The question now becomes how should TVA pivot to make sure this doesn't happen again. It turns out, renewable energy and nuclear power weren't affected by the cold.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, thinks that could be a path forward.
"If that’s going to increase reliability and improve a green future for Tennessee families, I think that’s something we definitely need to be looking at," said Rep. Clemmons.
No matter what the next steps are, TVA says they'll do their best to make sure they can live up to their own promises.
"Now, it’s hard to guarantee 100%, right? Because when you’re dealing with a storm, you just don’t know what all you’re going to face. But we feel like we’ve certainly taken action on every item that caused us issues before," said Edmondson.
When it comes to potentially increasing nuclear power, Monday night, Gov. Bill Lee in his State of the State address proposed $50 million for a Nuclear Fast Track Fund to help build out Tennessee's nuclear development.
