The nation’s largest public utility might not be up to the task of avoiding power failures in extreme weather conditions, a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) claims.
“The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) faces several climate-related risks ... expected to affect TVA’s ability to generate and transmit electricity ... that could affect TVA’s ability to keep electricity rates low,” the GAO report (pdf) stated. “For example, in 2010, a TVA substation was submerged in over five feet of water when 15 inches of rain fell in two days. TVA relocated the substation to higher ground, at a cost of about $9 million.”
