TVA and Muhlenberg County plant prepared for cold weather

MUHLENBERG COUNTY, Ky. – The Tennessee Valley Authority is sharing how it has prepared to handle anticipated cold temperatures this weekend into next week.

According to the TVA, it has taken several steps to be ready for winter weather events, including the investment of $430 million to enhance reliability and the completion of thousands of winter readiness activities.

“TVA Is very reliable, we maintain greater than 99% reliability,” Paradise combined cycle plant manger Jim Phelps said. “We put a lot of effort and work into maintaining that reliability. We just recently went through overhauls here at Paradise of our steam turbine and all three of our gas turbine generators, and we increased our capacity here by 27 megawatts, which is pretty exceptional, and we’re ready this year for the winter.”

To prevent facilities and instruments from freezing, the release says they have added and upgraded insulation, created enclosures to protect exposed equipment and worked on heat trace technology.

The TVA says it also faced Winter Storm Heather last January, when multiple records were set for meeting energy demand.

News 40 encourages its viewers to be prepared and follow forecasts by downloading the WNKY News 40 Weather App.