The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) may delay at least some planned coal unit retirements in response to a slate of executive orders and the new regulatory climate President Donald Trump's administration is trying to foster.
TVA is reevaluating the end-of-life study it had done on its coal units. That could keep at least some of its existing coal fleet operating beyond 2035, which is the current timeline for TVA to retire or replace its coal units with natural gas.
"We are taking a hard look at our asset strategy with respect to what the regulatory environment is in front of us," TVA chief executive officer Don Moul said today.
TVA officials say there is "strong potential" for the Shawnee plant in Kentucky and the Gallatin plant in Tennessee to continue operating, provided there is regulatory allowance. According to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, these plants were originally scheduled to retire in 2033 and 2031, respectively.
The company also will closely consider retirement dates of the Kingston and Cumberland plants in Tennessee, which were expected to be replaced with new natural gas facilities over 2027-28. TVA's board also had approved plans to build 100MW of battery storage, and up to 4MW of solar generation on the Kingston site.
Trump last month signed a series of executive orders designed to boost the domestic coal industry. TVA was among the US generators granted two-year exemptions from compliance with new federal mercury and air toxics standards for all of its coal facilities.
Coal-fired generation made up 15pc of TVA's portfolio during the utility's fiscal second quarter ended on 31 March, TVA reported today That was up from 14pc during the same period a year earlier.
TVA's four coal plants received 1.04mn short tons (946,160 metric tonnes) of coal in the first two months of 2025, according to EIA data. That was up from 935,045st in January-February 2024.
