NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The incoming winter storm could put Middle Tennessee’s power grid to the test as energy demand increases.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) believes they are in a good position, having conducted maintenance on equipment and adding 2,000 megawatts to the system over the last two years.
“We can say we have done everything we said we can do to be prepared to keep the lights on, to keep the heat going,” TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks explained.
Many of the changes came after the 2022 winter storm caused rolling blackouts across their network. When asked about the possibility of that occurring during this weekend’s storm, Brooks said, “I would say we can never say never.”
We asked them about the possibility of it occurring again.
“Things happen, but we have made the investment where we think they were necessary,” Brooks said, “lessons learned winter storm Elliot back in 2022, when we did have some equipment that vulnerable.”
With multiple inches of snow and ice projected, the possibility of an outage was top of mind for shoppers.
“I have a lot of electronic devices that I depend on,” one shopper explained. “Given that we are in college, focusing on school, a lot of my classes are online, too, so, that will definitely have an impact on me.”
Energy demand is expected to increase next week with temperatures below freezing.
TVA could issue a voluntary conservation notice to insure the power grid sustainability.
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