August 2005
Economic Development in 3-D
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You won’t need special glasses to view this 3-D movie, but the effect will be just as powerful. TVA has partnered with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce to develop a three-dimensional model and movie of Enterprise South, the most recently certified Megasite. This movie represents TVA’s latest effort to use cutting-edge technology for conveying site information to community leaders, prospects, and site selection consultants.
"Once again, TVA and the Chamber have joined forces to advance economic development and job growth in the Chattanooga area," said Trevor Hamilton, vice president for economic development at the Chattanooga Area Chamber. "TVA's technical engineering resources have allowed us to project how Enterprise South will appear with all the infrastructure and amenities completed. The movie will serve as an invaluable tool in the Chamber's recruitment projects."
The use of 3-D modeling allows the client to gain information and a unique perspective that goes beyond what’s available from a live helicopter tour. Although a live tour gives an overview of the undeveloped site, a movie can depict potential elements such as roads, railways, and buildings, allowing the viewer to envision in detail how the completed site might look. View movie.
Minority business owners offer insights
The opportunities and issues affecting minority- and woman-owned businesses were highlighted in recent interviews conducted by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division (MLGW) and TVA. Executives from 50 diverse companies participated in the interviews. Memphis occupies the southwest corner of Tennessee and is ranked as the nation’s 18th-largest city with a diverse population exceeding one million.
Some of the main points that emerged are:
• More than 80 percent of the companies interviewed have expansion plans during the next three years.
• These companies plan to create an estimated 1,000 new jobs with more than $30 million in capital investment.
Respondents identified the business strengths of the Memphis-Shelby County area:
• Good community growth, support, and family environment
• Low cost of living
• Available resources, including a strong regional Chamber
• Distribution and communication hub
• Logistics, transportation, and access to the river system
• Reliable and affordable utilities.
The eSynchronist® Business Information System, developed by Blane Canada Ltd., was used to conduct the surveys. It’s designed to provide feedback that helps communities develop economic policy and enhance business retention. To learn more about TVA’s existing industry efforts, visit www.TVAed.com.
TVA meets record demand
Fueled by 95-degree heat across the region, TVA set a new record for system demand for electricity, peaking at 31,935 megawatts at 4 p.m. CDT on July 26. The new peak broke a record set only the day before at 31,703 megawatts amid a week of hot weather throughout the Southeastern United States that gave rise to extremely high power demand in the Tennessee Valley.
TVA met the new peak without a single customer interruption. Prior to this summer, the highest peak load ever experienced on the TVA system had been 29,966 megawatts on July 13, 2004.
“TVA employees across the Valley are to be commended for their dedication and outstanding work in meeting all of our customer demand without any service interruptions,” said TVA Transmission and Power Supply Executive Vice President Terry Boston. “The performance of our generation fleet was excellent, and although our transmission system was stretched, there were no significant voltage problems.”
All of TVA’s 59 fossil units, five nuclear units, four units at Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Plant, and 72 combustion turbines as well as 106 of 109 hydro units were operating or available to meet the peak demand. During the heat wave, TVA met a peak demand of 29,000 megawatts for a record seven straight days.
State strikes gold with Tennessee Prospector
The State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has teamed up with TVA to unveil the most powerful, feature-rich GIS-based web site posted by any U.S. state.
TennesseeProspector.com simplifies the process of working with government when preparing for relocation and expansion decisions. Because of the research data available online, site selectors no longer have to leaf through reams of Census Bureau reports for demographic information or contact multiple state departments for basic data.
The site gathers economic, planning, infrastructure, geographic, and demographic information into a ‘one-stop shop’ business portal. It provides information in minutes on buildings and land available, market characteristics, business synergies and opportunities, and geographic characteristics and advantages.
“Our priority is to help attract and retain high-skill, good-paying jobs in the state of Tennessee,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “With TennesseeProspector.com, we continue building upon our state’s business-friendly reputation.”
A technology called ZoomProspector, developed by GIS Planning Inc., makes this new Internet service more powerful than typical web sites. GIS is an integration of software and geographic data designed to efficiently display and analyze information. Viewers can rapidly tailor maps and reports to suit their needs and access data that would normally take weeks to collect and thousands of dollars to obtain from specialty data researchers.
“TVA is proud to partner with the State of Tennessee in a joint venture to offer the new TennesseeProspector.com web site,” said John Bradley, TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development. Comprehensive data, including GIS information and aerial photography, are being provided by TVA’s award-winning building and sites database, TVAsites.com, to enable the state to immediately utilize the features of this new economic development search technology.
Map shows industry-ready sites
We’ve added a new interactive map to our web site to highlight the four certified Megasites in the Tennessee Valley as well as other properties targeted to specific industries. View the map.
Also see our award-winning GIS database with over 1,600 properties: www.TVAsites.com.
To provide feedback, change your e-mail address, or opt out of receiving future Newsletters via e-mail, please send an e-mail request to econdev@tva.com.