In January 2023, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) issued a record of decision to retire and demolish its Cumberland Fossil Plant and replace one of its two units with a natural gas plant. Subsequently, TVA implemented the Cumberland Energy Solution (CES) project to construct a 1,450-megawatt natural gas-fueled combined cycle (CC) plant. In August 2023, Major Projects obtained approval from the TVA Board of Directors for all related CES project funding (including transmission) totaling $2.1 billion. Due to the importance of completing the transmission modifications to support the CC plant, we initiated an evaluation of the Cumberland CC transmission project. Our evaluation objective was to determine if the project followed TVA’s (1) scope and (2) risk management guidelines.
We determined the Cumberland CC transmission project complied with most elements of scope and risk management. For example, (1) the project had completed required scoping documentation, including a project charter, work breakdown structure, and supporting schedules; (2) funds were appropriately allocated for a change in the project scope; and (3) the risk register contained required elements. However, documentation reflected inadequate collaboration and estimating related to project cost. In addition, risk register development did not adequately include joint project team members and some risk response owners were not aware of their monitoring responsibilities.
