Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) criticized Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) rolling blackout mandates over the Christmas weekend.
Burchett shared an article on Twitter regarding TVA’s “failed” effort to not interrupt power over the weekend, adding in a comment, “We were failed once again by @TVAnews [TVA].”
We were failed once again by @TVAnews https://t.co/x4EOKRxiVC
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) December 26, 2022
The day before Burchett’s comment, the congressman revealed that TVA’s rolling blackout mandate affected him and his family personally, as the blackouts led to his family’s barn pipes freezing.
“TVA’s rolling blackouts kicked our barn heaters off and our pipes froze in the barn,” Burchett tweeted on Christmas Eve.
TVA’s rolling blackouts kicked our barn heaters off and our pipes froze in the barn. It could be worse. Congress could have passed a $1.66 trillion pork and woke laden bill. pic.twitter.com/I08nLaD3Iy
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) December 25, 2022
TVA issued a mandate for 153 local power companies across Tennessee and beyond to “temporarily reduce power supplies to localized areas” on Friday in response to cold temperatures driving up the power demand. TVA’s mandate carried on into Saturday morning before being terminated, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
TVA announced Monday that it set “multiple power demand records” during the “extreme weather event.”
On Friday, TVA hit the “highest 24-hour electricity demand” in its history, with 740 gigawatt-hours being supplied. Friday also saw the company experiencing its “highest winter peak power demand” of 33,425 megawatts.
On Saturday, TVA hit its “highest weekend peak power demand” in its history, recording a record 31,765 megawatts.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we managed record-setting power demand over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/PAPkMVbsLK
— Tennessee Valley Authority (@TVAnews) December 26, 2022
Following the termination of the rolling blackout mandate, Don Moul, TVA’s chief operating officer, said in a statement, “We are grateful for our 153 local power companies and industrial customers who have been key partners in weathering this extraordinary event.”
TVA followed its termination of rolling blackouts by asking the public to “reduce electric power use as much as possible without sacrificing safety” in the following 36 hours and during cold temperatures in the future to help conserve energy.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Tim Burchett” by Tim Burchett.
So, J Albert , what “claims” , exactly, have I made that were untrue? “Rolling blackouts” do not coincide with 8 hours of NO ELECTRICITY. Nor does a rolling blackout coincide with “slowly ramping up power” to a neighborhood. Besides , I have a right to say what I believe the situation to be. That sir , or ma’am , does not equal untruth- and is no less likely to be the case than your “claims”. I do not think that the failures which have resulted in power grids world wide after the reduction/ cessation of coal use are a revelation to anyone.
Exactly, no coincidence that al gore and company were added to the tva board by the brandon admin a couple of days before this happened. F this green woke energy bs.
Get ready it’s coming. Think they will cut power to the White House? Don’t count on it. The common folks can live more simply. I believe the quote is “let them eat cake”
TVA has 1 JOB -These people knew this cold snap was on the way for 2 weeks just like the rest of us. They knew they were dealing with companies who never imposed rolling blackouts on their customers ( which is in itself a whole other issue). Nonetheless, they had to have realized that when they let current back across those circuits it would throw them off again , causing the hours long power outages. Over a million people were trying to stay warm because it was -2, so that many heat systems on at one time would certainly throw the circuits again when they ran the current back all at once. WTF TVA?! In no way would the situation have been worse had you NOT cut off everybody’s electricity. You have ZERO evidence that the system would have been overwhelmed. This is more woke green BS. In other words, the power cuts were completely unnecessary, and were in fact detrimental – hmmm…sound familiar?
LM – Well said.
Now with the woke greenies now running the TVA we can expect much worse scenarios in the near future. The whole problem is exacerbated by Tennessee and other states tied to the TVA encouraging unsupportable population growth. Those clowns see uncontrolled growth as the ultimate measure of success. All the while stabbing the existing residents in the back. Hear that, Little Billy Lee?
This is no longer my TVA. Our Prime Directive was never a blackout. However, most of the clai s of LM are untrue. When restoring power, neighborhoods can be restored one at a time, maybe even a street at a time, to more slowly ramp up the load. That and the system’s design should prevent circuit breaker trips. As to knowing that the demand exceeds supply, that a very easy observation of 2 indicators on a computer screen. The alternative would have been a brownout and your heat pump would be very unhappy on 100 volts! TVA’s problem is shutting down world record reliability coal plants in favor of cheaply built combined cycle gas plants, some that could not run when needed in record cold and reliance on long distance contracts for windmills that must shut down in high winds like the big storm brought.
all part of the powers-that-be conditioning us to accept worse lives in the name of their power
and part of the libs war on energy.
how would solar power generation have worked during this storm?
What I can’t figure out is during the past summer when temperatures were so high and obviously all ac units were spinning not stop, there was no rolling blackouts due to a strain on the power grid. However, when there’s a cold snap and everyone has their heat on trying to stay warm, all of the sudden there’s a strain? What puzzles me is that a large percentage of the heat units are gas, which draw a lot less voltage than Central ac units. That being the case, cooling a home should strain the power grid more than heating it. This leads me to agree with my fellow commentators below.