The Tennessee Valley Authority, with a vision to be one of the nation’s leading providers of low-cost and cleaner energy by 2020, announced Tuesday that it will idle nine coal-fired electric generating units, totaling about 1,000 megawatts, at three of its power plants beginning in fiscal year 2011.

Those units are: Shawnee Unit 10 near Paducah, KY; John Sevier Units 1 and 2 near Rogersville, TN; and Widows Creek Units 1-6 near Stevenson, AL.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore unveiled a strategy to replace some of TVA’s older and less-efficient coal-fired units with other sources of low-carbon and carbon-free power generation at Friday’s meeting of the TVA board of directors.

“Much of our stakeholder input and other assessments point toward a greater reliance on nuclear power and energy efficiency and less reliance on coal,” he said. “Replacing some coal with other, cleaner fuel sources allows a reduction in air emissions including carbon. One of TVA’s key goals is to improve air quality.”

TVA announced the plans to its employees and the leaders of communities around the affected units on Tuesday. Two units at the Widows Creek plant will be idled in fiscal year 2011, and four other units there will be idled between 2011 and 2015. Shawnee Unit 10 will be idled and evaluated for possible conversion to biomass fuel. Two units at John Sevier will be idled within the next four to five years.

Most TVA power plants have multiple generating units, and some units will continue to operate at all plant sites under Tuesday’s announcement. In addition, natural gas-fired generation units are under construction at the John Sevier site. Additional natural gas and nuclear generating units are under construction at other TVA locations.

“We will work to lessen the impact on employees,” Kilgore said. “We are looking at a number of ways to create new opportunities and options for most, if not all, employees affected. We do not expect that involuntary staffing reductions would be necessary, but we can make no guarantees. The units will be idled in phases, which will allow many affected employees time to plan and pursue new opportunities.

No employee layoffs are associated with the units being idled in 2011.

Coal-fired units are evaluated on the basis of original designs, economics and efficiency, overall performance, cost to operate and the cost to bring them into compliance with anticipated environmental regulations. Watts Bar Fossil Plant, which was shut down in 1983, was the last TVA coal-fired plant to be retired.

“TVA has a strong commitment to improving air quality and has spent more than $5.3 billion to reduce air emissions,” Kilgore said. “Last year, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions for the TVA coal fleet were about 90 percent lower than during their peak years.”

The TVA coal fleet consists of 59 units at 11 plants with about 15,000 megawatts of generation. Of that amount, about 8,000 megawatts are equipped with advanced environmental controls and will remain part of TVA’s long-term generating capacity. Other units totaling about 6,000 megawatts would require scrubbers or other advanced environmental equipment additions in the future. Those units will be evaluated to determine whether to install controls, idle them or replace them with alternative generation.

“This is a difficult step, but it’s the right thing to do,” Kilgore said. “We will work with employees and local communities to ease the transition.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 33,700 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA’s service territory are below the national average.

For short video clips of the affected plants go to: www.tva.com/news/video.