TVA sets winter record for power

The Tennessee Valley Authority on Friday set a record demand for electricity during the winter season, surpassing a mark set in 2003.

Based on initial readings, the country?s largest public utility met a demand of 30,227 megawatts at 7 a.m. CST, when the average temperature across the Tennessee Valley was 17 degrees.

The previous winter record was 29,866 megawatts on Jan. 24, 2003. The federal utility’s all-time record occurred last summer when demand spiked to 32,008 megawatts on July 18.

?All of the available generating units at TVA?s coal, nuclear, hydro, combustion-turbine and pumped-storage plants, along with TVA?s transmission system, performed extremely well to meet the record winter demand,? said TVA executive vice president Terry Boston.

Valley temperatures and power demand were expected to moderate over the weekend and be back to normal next week.

TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve approximately 8.6 million consumers in seven southeastern states.