The Tennessee Valley Authority and ENTRA 1 Energy have entered into an agreement to deploy new nuclear generation in the southeast.
Under the agreement, ENTRA1 will deploy up to 6 gigawatts or 6,000 megawatts of new nuclear energy to TVA’s seven-state region by deploying six ENTRA1 Energy plants, according to TVA’s Tuesday press release.
ENTRA1 is an independent energy production company based in Houston, Texas and has a partnership agreement with the small modular reactor (SMR) developer NuScale. ENTRA1 can finance, own and operate NuScale reactors under its agreement with the SMR developer.
TVA’s seven-state service region includes most of Tennessee, and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. Proposed sites for the six ENTRA 1 power plants were not disclosed in the press release.
TVA said the collaboration could provide enough to power nearly 4.5 million homes or 60 new data centers.
As NuScale’s partner, ENTRA1 will use NuScale’s SMR technology inside of its ENTRA1 Energy plants. NuScale is the first SMR developer to have its SMR design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
TVA has continued its commitment to new nuclear generation as the government-owned utility submitted a construction permit application to the NRC for a SMR at the Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tenn. in May.
The application is currently under review and expected to be completed by December 2026.