U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

TVA’s Solar Power Purchase Agreements

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2024-17482
Report Type
Audit
Description
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has set a goal of increasing its solar capacity to 10,000 megawatts by 2035.  Due to issues in the solar industry resulting in project delays and price increases, we performed an audit of TVA’s solar power purchase agreements (PPAs).  Our audit objectives were to determine (1) how supply chain disruptions, construction and in‑service delays, contract restructuring, and other factors have affected TVA’s solar PPAs and (2) if any restructured PPAs are still in TVA’s financial interest.  Our audit scope included solar PPAs that were in place as of February 8, 2024, which included agreements for currently operating facilities and those contracted for future power generation. We determined the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, construction and in-service delays, contract restructuring, and other factors resulted in TVA:  Renegotiating 18 of its 31 solar PPAs, including 10 that have been completed and an additional 8 that were in the process of being renegotiated.  Additionally, we determined 8 of the 10 renegotiated PPA contracts’ net present value decreased. The decline in project net present value was partially offset by anticipated revenue from renewable energy credits.  The cost increases had no impact on TVA's financial interests because purchased power costs are recouped through TVA's fuel cost adjustment. Changing its business model philosophy on entering into solar PPAs.  Making changes to improve the structure of its PPA contracts.  In addition, we identified opportunities for improvement related to (1) requiring economic analyses and (2) selecting new solar developers.
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View report on Oversight.gov

Recommendations

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Communications Officer, Commercial Energy Solutions, consider establishing a negative net present value threshold, that upon reaching, the TVA Board of Directors must be consulted prior to entering into solar power purchase agreements.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Communications Officer, Commercial Energy Solutions, update Commercial Energy Solutions Standard Programs and Processes 21.704 to require utility scale solar power purchase agreements have a second economic analysis if the project has a proposed price change to the price from the original contract amount.

We recommend the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Communications Officer, Commercial Energy Solutions, consider taking a measured approach with new developers by limiting the number of contracts with the developers until a performance history has been established.