TVA may replace coal-fired plant with natural gas

MEMPHIS — The Tennessee Valley Authority has received permission in Memphis to do soil testing on a site next to the Allen Fossil Plant as it decides whether to build a plant powered with natural gas.

TVA spokeswoman Jessica Stone told The Commercial Appeal that the utility is assessing whether to build a natural gas plant or install scrubbers to clean up emissions at the coal-fired plant.

TVA officials have received permission from the Memphis-Shelby County Port Commission to do soil testing on a 50-acre site next to the Allen plant in southwest Memphis.

Stone told the newspaper no decision is expected before next spring and the target date for a new plant or upgrading the old one is 2015.

TVA spent $445 million on a recently opened gas-fired plant near Brownsville.