Developing a leadership role for utilities in alternative technologies.
Andrew Kosnaski previously was vice president of system planning for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Ramesh (“Rudy”) Shankar previously served as TVA’s chief technology advisor and vice president of technology innovation. This article represents their views and not TVA’s.
The American economy is undergoing rapid change, with innovation and technology bringing goods and services most Americans could only have dreamed about decades ago. Witness the replacement of telephone land lines with cellular access with larger bandwidth for new and varying content. The electric utility industry isn’t immune to these forces. Advancements in almost every area of power generation are changing how we do things, from removing harmful pollutants from emissions streams to providing new ways of giving end users choices in how they use electricity in their homes. Advancements in the areas of nuclear technology, from the development of the next generation AP1000 reactor design, to the emergence of small modular reactors as plug-and-play options for nuclear generators, exemplify the way technology has affected traditional generating sources in our industry.