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TVA again ranks among top 10 utilities

Sept. 3, 2009 – For the fourth year in a row, TVA has been named one of the top 10 North American utilities by Site Selection magazine. The ranking is based on economic development achievements for 2008.

Last year TVA and the distributors of TVA power, working with state and local partners in the seven-state Tennessee Valley region, helped attract or retain more than 42,000 jobs and leveraged some $5.5 billion in capital investment, including the Volkswagen investment in Chattanooga.

“We are honored that Site Selection magazine recognizes the collaborative accomplishments of our economic development team, which includes TVA employees, local utilities, and state and local partners,” said John Bradley, TVA's senior vice president of Economic Development. “Achieving this top decile performance recognition for four consecutive years reaffirms that the Tennessee Valley is a great place to do business.”

The annual ranking is based on capital investment, job creation, capital investment per capita, and jobs per 10,000 in population. The magazine also takes into account responses from site selection consultants and investments made by utilities in new generation, transmission, and renewable energy projects.

“The best utility economic developers lead the way toward high-impact projects and the low-carbon economy all at once,” Adam Bruns, managing editor of Site Selection, said in a press release. “Helping companies meet sustainability and efficiency targets is becoming just as important as incentives or special power rates in sustaining new or existing corporate operations and expansions.”

Bruns added that projects such as Wacker Chemie’s investment in Charleston, Tenn., earlier this year demonstrate how renewable energy and business growth can be synonymous, and give the TVA territory a head start for the magazine’s tally of utility-assisted economic development projects in 2009.

Read the full story in Site Selection.