The Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest utility in the United States, has announced a new study of opportunities for economic adoption of clean energy across the region. Along with other areas of the economy, the study will look at electricity supply to find ways to reduce the carbon pollution that fuels climate change. Environmental and renewable energy advocates are closely watching the board's shift to a majority chosen by Biden as it follows the federal utility's decision to stick with a fossil fuel -- natural gas -- to replace some of the electricity generated at the aging coal-fired Cumberland fossil plant in Tennessee. . TVA has previously replaced coal-fired units with natural gas and is considering the option again at another aging coal plant in Tennessee. Cumberland's decision was discussed only briefly on Thursday.

Gaby Sarri-Tobar, an activist with the Center for Biodiversity's Energy Justice Project, said the new board members had a "tremendous responsibility" to build a just, 100% renewable system. Sarri-Tobar cited a winter storm on Christmas Eve last year that shut down coal and gas plants, forcing the TVA to resort to rolling blackouts. Don Moul, TVA's chief operating officer, said 6,800 megawatts of generation were lost as severe freezing conditions proved beyond the capabilities of existing heat tracing and insulation materials. Both Cumberland installations were shut down throughout the frigid conditions due to the implementation of a line freeze. Most simple-cycle and combined-cycle gas-fired power plants were affected, but most returned to operation during the cold period.

TVA was able to bring 1,000 megawatts of power back online after the initial outage, but decided to implement a rolling outage the next day to keep its power system stable. Maggie Shober, director of research for the Southern Clean Energy Alliance, noted that meeting discussions included her organization's priorities around Christmas Eve blackouts, energy efficiency and decarbonization.