from Jo Anne Lavender
As Winter Weather Wanes, Looking Forward to Spring
from December 2023 TVARA News
I hope you have enjoyed the winter season, in spite of its days of deep snow and bitter cold, maybe.
There were a lot of good times, too. Many of us had an opportunity to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Most TVARA chapters were able to gather in December for some great get-togethers and meals.
Many chapters contributed to their communities during this time. See the article on pages 6 and 7 of this issue about these chapter activities, which were done through the generosity of our BVI partners.
Of course, a most notable event this winter was the very cold, snowy, icy weather in January. We hope you and your families were able to stay safe and warm. Where I live, we couldn’t get out of our neighborhood for nine days due to 10 inches of snow and many snow- and ice-covered roads between us and the nearest main roads.
However, we had power and food and were safe and warm. I thank TVA for giving us retirees the People First Solutions Center to call if and when we were impacted by the storm and its aftermath and needed help.
TVA met two record power demands in January. That was after TVA spent millions of dollars weatherizing its power facilities when some of them were unable to come online in the face of December 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott.
TVA also added 1,500 megawatts of generation in the past year. That made a difference on days like Wednesday, Jan. 17, the coldest morning of the month, with an average low temperature of 4 degrees across the Tennessee Valley.
We, TVARA, sent out a message to all of you to conserve energy wherever it was safe to do so, in the morning hours that day, by taking such measures as postponing laundry and using the oven later in the day. TVA said residential customers used 800 MW fewer than expected, thanks to the voluntary conservation efforts that morning.
What we did mattered.
Jeff Lyash, TVA President/Chief Executive Officer, gave the following report of performance that week:
• He said TVA met a preliminary all-time, record peak demand of approximately 34,524 MW, beating its previous record from August 2007 by more than 1,000 MW. This exceeded the peak during Winter Storm Elliott by nearly 1,100 MW.
• On Sunday, Jan. 21, another record was set. TVA’s system performed incredibly well through record-breaking weekend peak demands of 34,284 MW.
• And, from Jan. 15 through Jan. 21, TVA met a weekly record of 4,790 GWh, which is more than 3 percent over its previous record from January 2010.
So, now we are looking forward to Spring!
Check out many opportunities for Spring activities listed in this issue. First, look at the page with the March chapter meetings to find the meeting in your area. This is such a great time to get together with friends and colleagues.
There is also an article listing numerous spring festivals and events throughout the Valley. And there are other enjoyable articles such as the following: Retiree Charles Van Beke describes his trip to Bulgaria and Romania, and recently retired Michael Hynes reports on a bicycle trip across America he is making for a worthy charitable organization.
We hope you find these and other articles in this newsletter interesting and informative. There are many updates about some of TVA’s projects. There is information about benefits. There is information on how you can sign up to volunteer at TVA’s visitor centers. And more.
Whatever you find yourself doing this Spring, we wish you health and happiness!
