CALEDONIA, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Grant McLaughlin

Tennessee Valley Authority is in the process of seeking public comments on a two-year project to build a supplemental 500-megawatt gas-powered turbine energy plant near Caledonia. The plant is expected to employ as many as thirty people and is designed to kick in in times of high power usage and in weather conditions that reduce the output of other power plants nearby below acceptable levels.

“More capacity (on the grid) is a great thing,” GT Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said. “Lowndes County is home to some of TVA’s biggest customers. (More power generation) being closer to the user of it will be a good thing.”

Julia Wise, a senior communications consultant for TVA, said, “We receive those comments, then we can start the environmental review process, and we will then publish a draft environmental review, and then a final environmental review. That feedback and review helps determine whether or not that project moves forward.”

The public feedback period is already open, and will last until Jan. 19. She went on to say that the TVA plans to have an in-person open house on Jan. 8 at the Caledonia Community Center at 205 S. St. from 5 to 7 p.m. for county residents to hear about the project and submit more feedback. Comments can be submitted via the TVA website (https://www.tva.com/) or emailed to [email protected].

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