TVA Closing Widow’s Creek Coal-Fired Electricity Plant In Stevenson, Alabama

TVA announced recently the Board of Directors voted to close the last operating unit of 8 coal-fired electricity generating operating units at their Widow’s Creek facility near Stevenson, AL by October 2015.

Especially problematic was the issue of costs associated with storing “fly ash” the toxic residual waste generated by burning coal. While fly ash is used in construction of roads, and in concrete, there is more waste generated than used.

Nationwide, increased “accidents” from accumulated and overfilled swamps of coal ash have polluted rivers and water supplies. Remediation costs associated with cleanup, and repair of waste storage facilities has proven unprofitable for TVA and other coal-burning electricity-generating utilities.

According to Knoxville, TN television station WBIR, “TVA has spent an estimated $1.2 billion cleaning up since the [December 2008 Kingston, TN] spill. Coal ash is left over from burning coal to power a power plant.”

Shuttering coal-fired plants is merely a transition, and as with any change, there will be howlers, bitchers, gripers, moaners, groaners and complainers.

However, not to worry, TVA is building a Solar Collection Electrical Generating Facility in Lauderdale County, Alabama which will make Volkswagen’s facility at their Chattanooga plant pale by comparison. The VW facility has a capacity of 9.5MW (MegaWatts) and will contribute 12.5% of the facility’s energy needs during full production times and 100% in non-production. The Solar facility in Lauderdale County, AL will produce 80MW.

Reporting by:
Chattanooga Times-Free Press
AL.com
Largest solar farm in Alabama added to TVA grid
TVA info on Widow’s Creek Fossil Plant