Two electric utilities in the US state of Tennessee are launching RFPs for new solar and storage projects.
TVA seeks company for 100MW BESS
Federally owned electric utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for battery energy storage system (BESS) developers to submit proposals for a 100MW BESS system in Tennessee, US.
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The 100MW BESS will be located at TVA’s Kingston Energy Complex in Roane County, Tennessee. The utility company says that once the complex is completed, it will deliver 50MW of combined cycle natural gas, 800MW of flex-fuel aeroderivative turbines, 100MW of battery storage and up to 4MW of solar.
TVA is accepting proposals to design, engineer, build, operate and maintain the BESS, which it says must reach commercial operations by 2029. The project is supporting TVA’s “unleash American energy” strategy, which it aligns with US president Donald Trump’s executive order on “Unleashing American Energy.”
A growing population in Tennessee has led to an increased demand for energy in the state. TVA says it anticipates investing nearly US$16 billion to create a reliable and efficient power grid. The company’s current planning assumption includes building about 5,500MW of new firm, dispatchable generation by 2029.
In 2020, TVA announced it would deploy a 40MWh stationary grid-connected battery storage plant called Vonore. At that time, according to data from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the southern state had 1,652.2MW of installed energy storage capacity, but all but 0.1MW of this was at one massive existing pumped hydropower plant, Racoon Mountain.
Tennessee is not part of a regional transmission organisation (RTO) or independent system operator (ISO), though PJM Interconnection does coordinate the movement of electricity in a small section of the state.
TVA operates over 16,400 miles of transmission lines and 500 substations. It supplies power in most of Tennessee, northern Alabama, northeastern Mississippi, southwestern Kentucky, portions of northern Georgia, western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia.
In 2024, Origis Energy signed a 200MW solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement (PPA) with TVA in Mississippi, US. Our colleagues at PV Tech also reported on the three other solar-plus-storage projects co-owned by Origis and TVA within Mississippi.
MLGW announces intent to issue RFP
Elsewhere in Tennessee, the municipal utility serving the city of Memphis — Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) has announced its intent to issue an RFP for solar generation and utility scale battery storage.
MLGW will issue an RFP on 14 March for 100MW of solar generation and 80MW of utility scale battery storage. The proposed date for the first operation is Q3 2026.
The utility is seeking approximately 100MW of solar generation paired with approximately 50MW of 2-hour or 4-hour utility scale battery storage constructed on MLGW property, another property in the MLGW service territory or other suitable property recommended by the vendor.
MLGW will consider proposals that build generation for its own operation or for PPA from an independent operator.
Additionally, the utility is looking to add approximately 20MW of 2-hour or 4-hour utility scale BESS at a predetermined MLGW substation, and another 10MW within the distribution system. MLGW is considering proposals for additional installations within the distribution system as recommended by the vendor.
