KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee Valley Authority has been named for the seventh consecutive year as one of Site Selection magazine’s top 10 North American utilities for achievement in economic development.
The publication recognizes TVA’s fiscal year 2011 work with local power companies and regional, state and community partners to help attract or retain more than 43,000 jobs and leverage $4.9 billion in capital investment for the seven-state TVA service territory.
John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of Economic Development, said TVA’s economic development support has resulted in about 240,000 new or retained jobs and $30 billion in business investment in the region since 2007.
“Power, partners and performance are the keys that work to unlock sustainable economic development success in our region,” Bradley said. “TVA’s mission is to provide reliable and low-cost power. Our customers, regional and state agencies, and economic, industrial and community leaders all play significant partnership and teamwork roles to prepare for economic growth opportunities. And TVA’s Economic Development staff is one of the highest-performing in the country; they continue to develop programs to improve the quality of life in the Valley, specifically through jobs and capital investment.”
Some of the major companies announcing expansion or location in the Tennessee Valley in 2011 include Olin-Winchester Corporation and GE Aviation in Mississippi; GM and Martinrea Hopkinsville in Kentucky; Electrolux and Amazon.com in Tennessee; and Topre America and North American Lighting in Alabama.
The Valley Investment Initiative (VII) is an innovative economic development program jointly offered by TVA and participating power companies in the TVA region. VII offers financial incentives to qualifying end-use customers who contribute to economic growth in the region and also complement TVA’s power system resources.
TVA has surveyed more than 50 sites during the last couple of years under its data center identification program, thus far qualifying more than 20 primary data center sites. TVA expects more sites to be designated as ideal locations to house computers, telecommunications, and other systems used by high-tech industries. A map of the data center sites that are ready for development is available at www.TVAed.com/datacenters.
TVA also held its first Rural Leadership Institute, as part of its expanded Rural Development Strategy to provide technical and financial assistance training to assist rural, economically distressed counties.
TVA Community Development helps communities prepare to compete for growth opportunities in a variety of ways. During fiscal 2011, the Community Development staff conducted a total of 107 training and development workshops in the TVA region.
Learn more about these and other TVA economic development programs and services at www.TVAed.com.
The Site Selection rankings are based on a number of factors, including project activity, input from corporate end users and site consultants, website tools and data, and innovative programs and incentives for business. .
“The Top Utilities of 2012 transmit positive energy and connect better than most,” says Adam Bruns, managing editor of Site Selection. “That’s because they understand the power of people.”
Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Data Inc., delivers expansion planning information to 44,000 executives of fast-growing firms. The full Top Utilities article appears atwww.siteselection.com.
