TVA’s Regional Grid Transformation Initiative
Gary Brinkworth, Senior Advisor, Innovation & Research, Tennessee Valley Authority
Editor’s Note: This article is based on a presentation Gary delivered at SGO’s most recent Grid Modernization Forum
TVA’s Regional Grid Transformation (RGT) Initiative is an innovative effort at grid modernization for TVA and the distribution partners that operate within TVA’s footprint.
TVA is the largest public power utility in the United States. It provides electricity for 153 local power companies serving 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states, as well as directly to 57 large industrial customers and federal installations. We also provide flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system, and assist local power companies and regional governments with their economic development efforts.
Our mission is just as relevant today as it was nearly nine decades ago when Congress created TVA: to harness the potential of the rich resources in the Tennessee Valley region to make life better for the people who call it home. The 10,000 employees of TVA form an experienced, talented team committed every day to improving the quality of life for the people we serve.
TVA has a unique business model that provides opportunities and challenges. At present, our transmission grid, as well as the grids of the region’s distribution utilities, are fairly traditional. They are characterized by one-way power flow operations, limited information exchange, and constrained opportunity for renewables, distributed energy resources and electric vehicles – as shown in Figure 2.
TVA is looking toward the future to achieve two-way power flow, like many utilities around the country. The goal of the RGT initiative is to establish end-to-end communication systems in which sensors and new intelligent devices allow the grid to be a lot more dynamic and responsive both to our needs as the utility, as well as to the needs of our customers.
We are working to take a more strategic approach to deploying these advanced grid technologies across the region in what we've identified as four key capability areas, illustrated in the middle of Figure 4.
The four capability areas that represent the way we will package this grid transformation are: 1) Exceptional end use experiences delivered for our customers, 2) Integrated planning, 3) Enhanced Transmission & Distribution operations, and 4) Regional policy guidelines.
These capability areas will allow us to address the needs of three key groups of stakeholders, shown on the right side of Figure 3: utility end-use customers, energy solution providers and regional stakeholders. The RGT initiative will allow TVA, and local power companies, to deliver faster restoration of outages, energy affordability, delivering shared value, community vitality, greenhouse-gas reduction and more.
Our intention is to move collectively, as a region, from where we are now to a much more dynamic grid. The implementation will take a classic “crawl, walk, run, approach” as illustrated in Figure 5.
In the past year or so, we have been in the initial phase of the RGT, where we gathered together a group of nine local power companies that represent a key segment of our regional stakeholders. They helped us to develop a case for change and the definition of what we really mean when we talk about grid transformation. In that initial phase, we focused on building the RGT vision. We are now in the Develop Plan phase, where we are launching a working team, refining principles and objectives, creating a pilot framework and developing a strategic RGT roadmap and implementation plan.
Currently, TVA is in “walk” phase that should complete in the next 10 to 14 months. Afterward, we will be ready for the execution phase where we will collaboratively work with our local power company partners to implement the plans. We will make investments in our grid, and our local power company partners will make investments in their distribution systems, so that we can realize the benefits identified through this initiative.
Merging of Two Supporting Projects
Our long-term goal is to bring together two supporting projects. The first is called the Grid of Tomorrow. This transmission modernization initiative has been in process for a little over a year and involves, among other things, the development of a new System Operations Center for TVA. The centerpiece of that work is our new SCADA and EMS system as well as a new strategic fiber initiative that will allow us to deploy a completely new set of sensors and other devices on our bulk electric system. These will enable us to achieve an enhanced and more dynamic level of information and control over the network.
The Grid of Tomorrow initiative will be paired with the RGT initiative to use smart meters (AMI), sensors, real-time communications and intelligent devices on the distribution network to build an interactive and self-healing, valley-wide grid. Once we merge the investment TVA is making on our transmission system with the investments local power companies will make on their distribution systems, we will create a flexible, resilient and inter-connected grid that allows us to operate end-to-end as if we were a single integrated system.
Even though we represent 154 independent operating companies, our intention is to achieve the different functional capabilities of this integrated grid, as illustrated in Figure 6.
From the perspective of our consumers, as well as our other stakeholders, we consider the value of an integrated grid to fall within five key areas:
Efficient — An integrated, automated, and intelligent energy supply managed with effective forecasting, planning and operations.
Resilient — An adaptable, dynamic, and flexible energy network with regional visibility to the grid edge.
Reliable — A safe and secure energy transmission and distribution system with responsive, optimized, real-time awareness for faster power restoration.
Clean — An integrated system that enhances energy choices, reduces carbon emissions, advances sustainability goals, and furthers community resilience.
Affordable — A modernized grid that simplifies energy management, reduces peak demand and costs, keeps rates low, optimizes capital and positions the Valley to grow.
TVA is planning the energy system of the future. We look forward to ensuring that an integrated grid delivers these five value streams to all of our stakeholders and continues to be as efficient, resilient and reliable as possible – delivering clean and affordable energy to the people and companies we serve across our seven-state service territory for years to come.
About the author:
Gary Brinkworth has over 38 years of utility industry experience in system planning, forecasting, and modeling. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University. After working for Southern Company and the City of Tallahassee, FL municipal utility he joined TVA in March 2009 where he managed the company's 2011 and 2015 Integrated Resource Plans. Gary then led the team responsible for coordinating R&D efforts and identifying innovation opportunities for TVA and its distribution utility partners. He's now a senior advisor to the VP of Innovation & Research working on special projects advancing the transformation of the energy network in the TVA region.