NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Under a new board majority picked by President Joe Biden, the nation’s largest public utility on Feb. 16 reacted to a drumbeat of concerns about not meeting the Biden administration’s own power sector climate change goals by announcing a new study of clean energy adoption opportunities throughout the region’s economy.

The Tennessee Valley Authority touted plans for the study with the University of Tennessee’s Baker Center for Public Policy during its board meeting in Florence, Alabama. The study will look at the electric power supply, in addition to other areas of the economy, for ways to reduce carbon pollution that spurs climate change. TVA expects the review to last 18 months.

“Simply put, this initiative will accelerate a clean energy economy and support the economic competitiveness of the region, and it will deeply inform TVA about what challenge actually sits in front of us,” TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash told board members.

Environmental and renewable energy advocates are closely watching the board’s switch to a Biden-selected majority. The transition follows the federal utility’s decision to stick with a fossil fuel — gas — to replace some of the generation from the aging coal-burning Cumberland Fossil Plant in Tennessee, which is slated to shut down. Those advocates highly criticized the choice, as did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which ultimately declined to challenge the plan all the way to a White House council.

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