Read between the headlines and you’ll find TVA’s positive influence across all 80,000 square miles of its territory.
Blockbuster projects and plans have a way of nudging day-to-day victories out of the spotlight. In much the same way, news emanating from big cities can obscure our view of all the good things happening in smaller cities, towns and rural areas.
The big news deserves the attention: As documented elsewhere in this issue of Site Selection and in past issues, pioneering projects and plans involving TVA continue to move forward in the nuclear energy field — witness its achievement of the first Gen IV nuclear power purchase agreement and its support for a commercial fusion plant. Across the 80,000 square miles of its service region, including all of Tennessee and portions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia, TVA helped attract over $6.6 billion in investment and expects to create over 9,000 new jobs as a result of its FY2025 economic development work. That’s after a 2024 that saw the organization and its economic development team attract 10,368 new jobs, with 42,300 retained jobs and $8.9 billion in capital investment.
Meanwhile, like a transmission tower or town water tower, a host of other work by TVA supports community ambitions and opportunities with its everyday presence, serving companies’ and citizens’ utility needs while at the same time showcasing their best attributes.
Among other accomplishments in 2025, for example, TVA supported energy efficiency upgrades for over 200,000 residents and joined Hurricane Helene environmental restoration efforts, all while working to reduce costs through its Enterprise Transformation Program. As Site Selection documented last September in our Top Utilities in Economic Development showcase, “since its inception in 2022, TVA’s Workforce Invest grant program has funded 44 projects with a combined investment of $5.9 million, with the expectation of impacting more than 5,000 trainees across the Valley.”
Programs like TVA’s InvestPrep, InvestReady and the industry’s first certified Megasite program “have helped shape the landscape of the communities TVA serves,” TVA Coordinator of Global Business Joanna Muscatello told us. That in turn helps attract projects like the nearly $2 billion investment from Amplify Cell Technologies in a 2,000-job battery cell production facility in Marshall County, Mississippi, a place that describes itself as home to “historic sites, picturesque communities and people who exemplify the true essence of southern hospitality.”
Here’s a brief tour of growth and progress in other towns (and yes, a few of the many full-sized cities) across TVA’s vast territory.
Corinth, Mississippi
“TVA is a critical partner in essentially everything we do in our economic development efforts, along with our local power company ACE Power,” says GT McCullough, president of The Alliance in Corinth, Mississippi, located in a Northeast Mississippi Planning and Development District (NEMPDD) that includes Alcorn, Benton, Marshall, Prentiss, Tippah and Tishomingo counties as well as 25 municipalities. Specifically speaking about the community’s RailHub South site, McCullough says, “TVA was heavily involved in the identification of the site, conceptual planning and site development. This dual-rail site has received three rounds of TVA’s InvestPrep Funding. With those efforts, along with additional partners like the Mississippi Development Authority and Appalachian Regional Commission, what was once a concept is now ready for investment. There is a fully paved industrial access road, all utilities present and an 80-acre pad on a true dual-rail site.”
Around 60 acres (pictured) of Redstone Arsenal’s approximately 38,000 acres in Huntsville, Alabama, have been designated as the location for the new Space Command headquarters, where some 1,400 jobs will be located. TVA Economic Development supported the effort to attract the Space Command in partnership with Huntsville Utilities, City of Huntsville, Redstone Regional Alliance, Huntsville/Madison County Chamber and the State of Alabama.
Photo courtesy of City of Huntsville; map: Getty Images
He explains that the site is bordered by Norfolk Southern’s mainline on the north side, and the North MS-AL Railroad on the south side, a short line that connects to Norfolk Southern and CPKC mainlines in Corinth. “For a heavy rail user, this site brings true dual-rail access,” he says. “Currently, we are in the scoping process with TVA to proactively secure right of way to bring additional power to be brought to the site. As power is at the top of the conversation in economic development today, we are working together to ensure this site is ready not only for construction but for a major power user.”
RailHub Industrial Park has already been a major success in Alcorn County. Adjacent to the site is the location of Mission Forest Products, a high-tech lumber mill announced in 2020 that brought a $160 million capital investment and today runs at full capacity, employing 170 people.
Other recent wins in Alcorn County include two Kimberly-Clark expansions (totaling over $160 million in investment and 50+ new high-paying jobs). Expansions by Tull Brothers, C&W Embroidery and Geartek represent over $330 million in new capital investment and over 230 new careers, McCullough says.
“TVA and ACE Power are constantly working alongside us at The Alliance on existing industry work and new industry recruitment,” he says. “From target marketing and recruiting trips to professional training, site development and much more, TVA is an incredible partner and asset to Corinth and Alcorn County, as well as the entire Tennessee Valley.”
Bowling Green, Kentucky
One has only to search the news archives of the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce in south central Kentucky to understand the intrinsic role TVA plays in the community’s economic development. No fewer than 34 project announcements feature quotes from TVA economic development leaders — and there are many more projects than that where the TVA team has played a role even if no public comments are made, not to mention sponsoring awards, events and other community activities.
A big project arrived in December with the help of TVA and many others, when AKFA Aluminum Solutions US LLC — a division of Uzbekistan’s AKFA Group — announced a major investment that will create 331 jobs with the establishment of its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Bowling Green. The plant “will integrate recycled aluminum billets and energy-efficient systems to support a low-carbon supply chain — reinforcing the region’s growing reputation in sustainable, advanced manufacturing,” said the official announcement on December 15.
“This is more than a facility — it is a bridge between two nations,” said Ilhom Abiev, representative of AKFA Aluminum Solutions US LLC. “We chose Kentucky because it offers everything we value — strategic location, skilled talent, and a forward-looking community that believes in innovation.”
It was only three years ago that Hankook Tire committed to a $1.6 billion expansion of this plant in Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park South. Thanks in part to TVA InvestPrep and other partners’ dedication to infrastructure development, the park and the area continue to attract multibillion-dollar projects, including a $6.6 billion project announced in December by Hankook’s fellow Korean company Korea Zinc.
Photo courtesy of Hankook
Heidi Smith, vice president of economic development at TVA, noted the collaboration that made this project possible: “Working in partnership with the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Warren RECC is a testament to our shared commitment to fostering economic growth in the region.”
“AKFA’s investment is transformational — not just for Bowling Green, but for Kentucky’s position on the global manufacturing map,” said Meredith Rozanski, interim president & CEO of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. The region’s place on that map was already solid, with the Chamber having announced 13 economic development projects in South Central Kentucky in 2025, totaling $351.4 million in capital investment creating 431 new jobs in the region. Bowling Green has been recognized as a Top Tier 2 Metro in the United States for 13 consecutive years by Site Selection Magazine, including three No. 1 rankings in that population category (2018, 2023, 2024).
Among the projects Rozanski and colleagues are championing is the IMPACT Center for Leadership & Innovation, a facility projected to open in August 2026 that will be equipped with the most advanced technology designed to empower Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) students to push the boundaries of creativity and discovery. That includes concrete credentials, providing industry-recognized certifications (e.g., FANUC Robot Operator, Rockwell Programmable Logic Controller) for high school students. It will serve between 100 and 200 students annually in the robotics and automation pathway.
“As interim president and CEO, I am particularly proud of the strong partnership between our Chamber and WCPS in bringing this visionary project to life,” Roznanski tells me. “The Chamber played a key role in reviewing workforce projections to shape the center’s innovative pathways, ensuring they align directly with the needs of our local employers and emerging industries.”
The IMPACT Center will empower students with hands-on, project-based learning in areas like aeronautics, AI and cyber systems, robotics, biomedical innovation, and more — equipped with cutting-edge tools such as 3D printers and laser cutters. “We are especially grateful for the generous support from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), whose Workforce Invest Grant is funding a fully automated manufacturing line for the robotics and automation pathway, providing students with industry-grade training in smart manufacturing and preparing them for high-demand careers in Industry 4.0,” Roznanski says.
Through internships, mentorships, work-based experiences, and collaborations with businesses, universities, and organizations like IBM and FranklinCovey, students will gain real-world skills, leadership credentials, and direct connections to our community’s career opportunities.
This initiative is “a game-changer for workforce development in South Central Kentucky,” says Roznanski. “By bridging education and industry, the IMPACT Center will prepare our next generation to thrive in high-demand jobs right here at home, driving economic growth and opportunity for all. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and seeing the profound impact this center will have on our students, businesses, and region.”
“We are especially grateful for the generous support from the TVA, whose Workforce Invest Grant is funding a fully automated manufacturing line for the robotics and automation pathway.”
— Meredith Rozanski, Interim President & CEO, Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce
Blount County, Tennessee
In a Knoxville region where University of Tennessee orange is as ubiquitous as the orange of a Smoky Mountains sunset, another higher education institution is working with the Blount Partnership and other partners to launch more career opportunities connected to that beautiful sky.
Pellissippi State Community College, founded as State Technical Institute at Knoxville in 1974, launched its new Aviation Technology program in August 2025 with a 25-person cohort that included recent high school graduates and retired pilots. It’s an 18-month associate degree program designed “to create a pipeline of Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Maintenance Technicians and provide students with high-demand and lucrative jobs,” said a release from the school. Once certified, students who graduate from the program will be qualified for entry-level aircraft mechanic jobs with local companies such as Cirrus Aircraft, StandardAero, PSA Airlines and Endeavor Air, the regional subsidiaries for American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, respectively.
“We are on the cusp of the aviation sector in this area growing exponentially,” said Patty Weaver, vice president for external affairs at the college, “and we here at Pellissippi State are truly excited to be a part of it.”
“Today really is an example of what happens when the right people find the right time and the right place — the right equipment, the right support — to do something that’s incredibly important for a community and a region,” Pellissippi State Community College President L. Anthony Wise Jr. said in September at the launch of a new Aviation Technology program at the school’s campus in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Photo courtesy of Pellissippi State Community College
“Aviation, aerospace and defense in general, is growing,” said Jesse Martin, director of the Aviation Technology program, based at the school’s Blount County campus and a 22,500-sq.-ft. facility nearby. “Salaries start at $65,000 annually and are growing. Demand is growing.” The program aims to gradually increase the size of its cohorts while also connecting to 1,000 middle and high school students engaged in aviation career exploration.
In addition to support from a nearly $2 million GIVE grant from the state, transport of a 1952 Beechcraft 35 Bonanza to the site by the 134th Air Refueling Wing and donations from Cirrus, Massey Electric, Standard Aero, Continental Aerospace Technologies, PSA, McGhee Tyson Airport and several East Tennessee county and city governments, TVA’s Workforce Invest program awarded a grant for continued support of aviation maintenance technology in East Tennessee, prioritizing “the growing demand for skilled workers in aviation and other high-tech industries,” said Blount Partnership Workforce Development Director Jessica Belitz.
Lauderdale County, Alabama (Florence)
TVA’s InvestPrep has funded a project that developed a 300,000-sq.-ft building pad on Lot D of the Florence-Lauderdale Industrial Park (FLIP). Leveraging both InvestPrep and a $2 million Alabama’s Site Evaluation and Economic Development Strategy (SEEDS) grant, The Shoals Economic Development Authority (SEDA) was able to maximize its own sizeable contribution to the project. Prior to the grading project, InvestPrep also funded the extension of Rushton Street and Gerrard Drive in the FLIP. A total of $30 million was allocated in the first round of SEEDS funding from the state, matched by $38 million in local contributions.
Alabama’s State Industrial Development Authority (SIDA) approved 29 grants totaling $23.5 million in a second round of SEEDS grants announced in February 2025, to be matched by $17.4 million in local contributions and supporting 29 industrial sites spanning nearly 8,700 acres. Applications for Round 3 of the program opened in July with a total of $23.2 million available to support site assessment and development.
Yalobusha County, Mississippi (Water Valley)
InvestPrep funded a project that will develop a 300,000-sq.-ft. rough-graded building pad in the W.C. Gardiner Industrial Park. “This project stands out because of the number of funding partners that Kagan Coughlin at Yalobusha County Economic Development District has been able to secure — seven in total,” says TVA’s Joanna Muscatello. Those include Mississippi Development Authority (Site Development Grant), TVA (InvestPrep), Delta Regional Authority (DRA), Appalachian Regional Authority (ARC), State of Mississippi, Yalobusha County and the City of Water Valley, which boasts proximity to I-55 as well as a historic downtown dating back to 1858.
In total, Coughlin has secured over $1.8 million in funding to develop this site, “which is impressive for a city/county of its size,” Muscatello says. Water Valley, home to an annual watermelon carnival and home to around 3,700 people, likes to call itself “Mississippi’s coolest small town” and continues to enhance its Main Street feel. You might say it’s excelling at placemaking on both the industrial and quality-of-life fronts.
Lawrence County, Alabama (Trinity)
TVA’s InvestReady program funded a project that purchased property in the Mallard Fox West Industrial Park, resulting in a 100-acre rail-served site. TVA Product Development joined the partners to assist with site and environmental due diligence and property purchase. The project also benefits from a $2.7 million Alabama SEEDS grant and funds from Norfolk Southern, in addition to InvestReady.
Without these funding partnerships, the Industrial Development Board of Lawrence County would not have been in a position to purchase the acreage and market it as a rail-served site. Prior to the property purchase, InvestReady funded a full suite of due diligence studies for this site, now known as the Mallard Fox West Rail Flex Site.
Now-retired former TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said last spring that the teamwork on the project “highlights the shared commitment to fostering growth and creating opportunities for the communities we serve.”
“Rail-served industrial sites are critical to maintaining a competitive local economy and attracting future economic development, offering businesses accelerated speed-to-market through established and reliable transportation solutions,” said Norfolk Southern Group Vice President of Industrial Development Craig Hudson last April. “We’re proud to partner with Lawrence County and the Tennessee Valley Authority on this important investment in the region and we look forward to continuing to work together for the benefit of Alabama.”
Montgomery County, Tennessee (Clarksville)
In December Clarksville welcomed most of a two-city $6.6 billion investment in Tennessee from Korea Zinc in a new smelter and headquarters that will create 420 new jobs in Montgomery County and an additional 320 jobs in Smith County where Korea Zinc will reopen a mine. It was the second of two megaprojects in Clarksville with LG Chem’s previous $3.2 billion investment in an EV battery materials plant that broke ground in late 2023.
Somewhat overshadowed by Korea Zinc’s news was an announcement a few days earlier that Japanese automotive manufacturer T.RAD, via its Kentucky-based subsidiary T.RAD North America, will create 928 new jobs and invest $90.2 million in Montgomery County as the company constructs a new facility at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park South, a Select Tennessee Certified Site.
That’s the same park where TVA’s InvestPrep funded a project that developed a 200,000-sq.-ft. building pad on Lot 19B. A unique aspect of the industrial park is its own daycare facility. “Although the daycare was constructed without TVA assistance, its proximity to our graded building pad is a unique selling point,” notes Joanna Muscatello.
After daycare comes full-on education, where the TVA connection with Clarksville schools and hundreds more continues. In partnership with Bicentennial Volunteers Inc. (BVI), a TVA retiree organization, TVA recently announced, for the third year in a row, $1.5 million in awards of up to $5,000 each to educators at 339 schools to develop STEM projects across the Tennessee Valley region that will support 114,000 students.
Since 2018, TVA/BVI has provided over $9 million in STEM grants supporting over 845,000 students. Northeast Elementary School in Clarksville, Tennessee is using its award to purchase much-needed supplies.
The U.S. Department of Energy in December selected TVA to receive a $400 million grant to accelerate deployment of the nation’s first Gen III + small modular reactor (SMR). The funding supports U.S. energy leadership, helping grow a domestic supply chain and workforce for next-generation nuclear technology. The benefits figure to extend across all of TVA territory as the nuclear renaissance continues.
Rendering courtesy of TVA
“We are going to be creating kits for kindergarten through fifth grade where teachers can just check out the materials they need to complete STEM projects,” Amber Di Silvio, academic coach at Northeast Elementary School, said in a TVA news release. “STEM opens up opportunities for different careers for these students to be exposed to later in life.”
Opening up opportunities for the 10 million lives across its territory is, after all, the purpose of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
