NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The hydroelectric power plants beneath the waters of the Cumberland River Basin are showing their age. To protect and renew this critical source of zero-emission, reliable energy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District is progressing with its Section 212 Hydropower Rehabilitation Program, a $1.2 billion initiative to modernize nine power plants, ensuring they reliably meet the growing energy demands of 4 million customers across eight states.
“The existing equipment averages nearly 65 years of service, well exceeding the original design life, leading to challenges with generation efficiency and increasing equipment reliability,” said Christopher Stoltz, the Section 212 Program Manager for the Nashville District. “The program’s core objective is to modernize this critical infrastructure so it can continue to meet the region’s growing energy demand reliably and efficiently.”
Progress and Milestones
The Section 212 Program will restore lost efficiency, increase generator output, and gain additional years of reliable service. The work focuses on the disassembly, rehabilitation, and reassembly of 28 turbine generators across the Cumberland River Basin, including at Barkley, Cheatham, J. Percy Priest, Old Hickory, Center Hill, Cordell Hull, Wolf Creek, and Laurel dams.
The first major turbine generator rehabilitation was completed at Center Hill Power Plant in 2021 and there are two active major turbine generator rehabs underway at Barkley and Old Hickory Power Plants.
At Barkley Power Plant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, the contract, awarded in September 2020, focuses on rehabilitating four turbine generators. Simultaneously, the rehabilitation of four turbine generators at Old Hickory Power Plant has been ongoing since February 2023, when the contract was awarded.
The program also addresses essential supporting elements, including the replacement of generator step-up transformers, medium-voltage cables, excitation systems, and the powerhouse bridge cranes.
“We’re not just replacing critical components; we’re enhancing the unit’s reliability and its ability to generate additional power,” Stoltz explained. “This strengthens our capacity to meet the region’s growing energy demands, ensuring a reliable, consistent source of hydropower for decades to come.”
The program is progressing steadily through a carefully phased approach. The sequence of work is designed to allow for the complete rehabilitation of one unit at a time at each power plant, preserving the full generation capacity of the remaining units to supply the national power grid.
USACE engineers and contractors have completed the turbine runner design and testing at both the Barkley and Old Hickory sites.
At Barkley, the first unit is fully disassembled and nearing the start of reassembly, which will include the new turbine runner and rewound generator rotor, components that each weigh upwards of 500,000 pounds. Completion of the first unit is scheduled for September 2026.
At Old Hickory, the first unit is in the process of disassembly, with the two critical lifts, the generator rotor and turbine runner, already complete. Completion of this unit is scheduled for December 2026.
“For this project, we have completed the design phase, contract award, mobilization, and disassembly of the first unit, as well as fabrication and rehabilitation of major components in preparation for reassembly,” said Kyle Keer, a project manager for the Nashville District.
Partnerships fueling the future
The long-term success of the program is rooted in its unique funding model. Authorized under Section 212 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, which permits the Corps to accept and reinvest revenue generated from hydroelectricity back into rehabilitating the power plants.
This is a true coalition effort involving, Southeastern Power Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, Tennessee Valley Public Power Association and a number of non-TVA-system customers across Kentucky, southern Illinois, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
“Successful project execution requires consistent communication among all USACE team members, the contractor, and our power customers,” said Stoltz." The entire endeavor is guided by a Master Plan that prioritizes projects according to equipment performance metrics and the criticality of replacement, keeping us focused on maximizing efficiency and minimizing downtime to ensure the continued reliability of the hydropower plants.”
The overall completion of the current major contracts at both Barkley and Old Hickory is scheduled for 2030, bringing the region a significant step closer to a fully modernized hydropower network, a testament to coordinated public works investment in America's energy future.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on X at www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps.