New TVA Turbines at Johnsonville Ready to Meet Winter Demand

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – As the energy landscape evolves and seasonal demands intensify, the Tennessee Valley Authority is reinforcing its commitment to building more American energy with the official dedication of 10 new state-of-the-art aeroderivative natural gas units at its Johnsonville site. The dedication ceremony, held Monday, November 17, featured TVA President and CEO Don Moul alongside state, local, and federal officials and local power providers.

“This is more than a milestone for TVA, it’s a promise kept to power the region, strengthen the economy, and serve the people who call this Valley region home,” said Moul. “TVA is building the energy system that will power next-generation industries and technologies – one that is flexible, resilient, and ready to meet the evolving needs of our communities. These new units represent our long-term vision for a more reliable grid that supports economic growth and energy security across the Southeast.”

The new turbines, located west of Nashville, add 530 megawatts of fast-start, flexible generation capacity—enough to power approximately 300,000 homes. Combined with 14 existing combustion turbine units, the Johnsonville site can deliver more than 1,300 megawatts of dispatchable power to TVA’s grid, which serves more than 10 million people across seven southeastern states.

The Johnsonville units are TVA’s first deployment of aeroderivative gas technology, designed to ramp up or down quickly to meet fluctuating demand. These units have already proven their value during the summer’s extreme heat and are now positioned to support peak winter demand.

TVA’s strategic foresight extends beyond Johnsonville. Construction is underway on 16 additional aeroderivative units at the Kingston Energy Complex in Roane County, Tennessee. In total, TVA is building approximately 6,200 megawatts of new generation capacity—over 3,500 megawatts of which are already under construction, enough to power 2 million homes.