Spring Valley II Solar Final Environmental Impact Statement

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Notice

Spring Valley II Solar Final Environmental Impact Statement

A Notice by the Tennessee Valley Authority on 04/08/2026

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• Document Details Published Content - Document Details Agency Tennessee Valley Authority Document Citation 91 FR 17824 Document Number 2026-06773 Document Type Notice Pages 17824-17826
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• Document Details Published Content - Document Details Agency Tennessee Valley Authority Document Citation 91 FR 17824 Document Number 2026-06773 Document Type Notice Pages 17824-17826
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  • AGENCY:
  • ACTION:
  • SUMMARY:
  • FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
  • SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
  • Alternatives Considered
  • Summary of Impacts
  • Public Involvement
  • Decision
  • Mitigation Measures Enhanced Content - Table of Contents

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Tennessee Valley Authority

AGENCY:

Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION:

Record of decision.

SUMMARY:

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to adopt the preferred alternative identified in its final environmental impact statement (Final EIS; Document ID EISX-455-00-000-1729685609) for the Spring Valley II Solar Project. The Final EIS was made available to the public on December 19, 2025. A Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on January 2, 2026 (91 FR 1). TVA's preferred alternative, analyzed in the Final EIS as the Proposed Action Alternative, consists of TVA executing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Spring Valley Solar, LLC (Spring Valley Solar), a wholly owned subsidiary of Urban Grid, to purchase power generated by an approximately 200-megawatt (MW) alternating current (AC) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility, which would occupy approximately 740 acres of a 2,426-acre Project Site, in Colbert County, Alabama, south of the city limits of Tuscumbia, Alabama, near the City of Muscle Shoals and Florence, Alabama, along US Highway 43. To interconnect to TVA's existing electrical grid Spring Valley Solar, LLC, would build a new onsite 161-kV substation and install network upgrades to the nearby transmission lines (TL). This alternative would achieve the purpose and need of the Project to meet the energy needs in response to customer demands and aligns with TVA's 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elizabeth Smith, NEPA Project Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11B Knoxville, TN 37902; telephone 865-632-3053; or email esmith14@tva.gov. To access and review the Final EIS, this Record of Decision (ROD), and other project documents, go to TVA's website at https://www.tva.gov/​nepa.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This notice is provided in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and TVA's procedures (18 CFR 1318) for implementing NEPA. TVA is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 10 million people in the Tennessee Valley—an 80,000-square-mile region comprised of Tennessee and parts of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky. TVA receives no taxpayer funding and derives virtually all revenues from the sale of electricity. In addition to operating and investing revenues in its power system, TVA provides flood control, navigation, and land management for the Tennessee Valley watershed and provides economic development and job creation assistance within the TVA Power Service Area.

In June 2019, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) completed an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and associated environmental impact statement (EIS) to identify how TVA would meet the energy needs of the TVA service territory over a 20-year planning period, while achieving TVA's objectives to deliver reliable, low-cost, and cleaner energy with fewer environmental impacts (TVA 2019a). The 2019 IRP recommends the expansion of solar generating capacity of up to 14 gigawatts by 2038, depending on the level of load growth and other factors. As part of TVA's diversified energy strategy, this Project would help TVA meet the needs for additional renewable energy in response to customer demands and is consistent with the 2019 IRP.

TVA has prepared an EIS pursuant to NEPA to assess the environmental impacts of the Proposed Action to execute a PPA with Spring Valley Solar for TVA to purchase power generated by the proposed approximately 200-MW AC solar PV facility.

Alternatives Considered

TVA considered a no action and one action alternative in the Draft EIS and Final EIS.

No Action Alternative. Under the No Action Alternative, TVA would not execute the PPA with Spring Valley Solar to purchase the power generated by the Spring Valley II Solar Project. Under the No Action Alternative, Spring Valley Solar would not develop, operate, maintain, and decommission a solar facility at this location, and TVA would continue to rely on other sources of generation described in the 2019 IRP to ensure an adequate energy supply.

Proposed Action Alternative. Under the Proposed Action Alternative, TVA would execute the PPA with Spring Valley Solar, LLC and purchase power generated by the proposed approximately 200-MW AC solar PV facility known as Spring Valley II Solar Facility, which would occupy approximately 740 acres of a 2,426-acre Project Site, in Colbert County, Alabama, south of the city limits of Tuscumbia, Alabama, near the City of Muscle Shoals and Florence, Alabama, along US Highway 43. To interconnect to TVA's existing electrical grid, Spring Valley Solar, LLC, would build a new onsite 161-kV substation and install network upgrades to the nearby transmission lines (TL). Under the PPA, Spring Valley Solar would construct, operate, and maintain Spring Valley II Solar Facility for a 20-year period. At the end of the 20-year PPA, Spring Valley Solar would assess whether to cease operations at the solar facility or to replace equipment, if needed, and attempt to enter into a new PPA with TVA or make some other arrangement to sell the power.

Purpose and Need. The purpose and need of the Proposed Action is to provide cost effective renewable energy ( printed page 17825) consistent with the 2019 IRP and in response to customer demand. TVA's preferred alternative for fulfilling its purpose and need is the Proposed Action Alternative, which would generate renewable energy for TVA and its customers with only minor to moderate environmental impacts due to the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) and minimization and mitigation efforts. Implementation of the Project would help TVA meet customer-driven energy demands on the TVA system.

Summary of Impacts

The No Action Alternative would result in the lowest level of environmental impacts as the impacts associated with construction and operation of the solar facility would not occur. However, the No Action Alternative does not meet the purpose and need for the project. Overall, environmental impacts associated with the Proposed Action Alternative would be minor to moderate with the implementation of required permits, BMPs, and minimization and mitigation efforts. The Proposed Action could have minor impacts to land use, geology, soils, wildlife, aquatics, vegetation, floodplains, utilities, transportation, recreation, air quality, noise, or public health and safety; no direct adverse impacts to groundwater; and minor beneficial impacts to surface water, wetlands, and socioeconomics. The project could have moderate impacts on prime farmland and minor to moderate impacts to visual resources. With the implementation of avoidance measures and use of BMPs, the Proposed Action is not likely to adversely affect federally or state-listed species, and potential impacts on federally-listed and state-listed species and their habitats would be minor. With the implementation of avoidance and mitigation measures, and through consultation with the Alabama Historic Commission, Tribes, and consulting parties, the Proposed Project would have no adverse effect on historic properties.

The Project Site would be revegetated by planting a mixture of native and/or non-invasive vegetation to enhance habitat, reduce erosion, and limit the spread of invasive species. This would likely result in an increase in plant diversity over that of the cultivated cropland currently present on the site. Vegetation on developed portions of the Project Site would be maintained to control growth through occasional mowing. Following decommissioning of the solar facility, the Project Site could be returned to agricultural use with little reduction in soil productivity or impacts to prime farmland.

The Proposed Action may affect but is not likely to adversely affect the gray bat, northern long eared bat, or Indiana bat, and would not jeopardize the continued existence of the tricolored bat. Mist net surveys conducted at the Project Site and TL Upgrade Area were negative for these species, indicating they are not likely present in the area. The Project is not likely to directly affect any federally listed species and would have minimal to negligible impacts to state-listed species of conservation concern. In accordance with Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), TVA evaluated potential effects and concluded that potential impacts to listed species and critical habitats have been appropriately addressed. Based on the information and analyses presented in the FEIS, no further measures are necessary to fulfill obligations under ESA.

The Project would not have an adverse effect to the Bell Mont Mansion due to mitigation measures agreed upon by TVA and the Alabama Historical Commission through consultation. Minimization measures include updating the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination form for the Belle Mont, the maintenance of the existing vegetative screening between the Belle Mont and the solar facility on the facility property, planting and maintenance of a new, permanent, non-invasive vegetative screen between the solar facility and the property along Cook Lane and the Belle Mont's driveway, and the installation of green mesh screening on the fences located behind the newly planted vegetative buffer.

Project components would introduce an effect to archaeological site 1CT270, but the effect will not be adverse. This effect would be from the placement of a single electrical transmission pole within the site boundary of 1CT270 as well as vegetative clearing for the associated transmission line. Following consultation with AHC, additional archaeological investigation occurred at the transmission pole location that revealed a lack of archaeological integrity at that location, and construction documents will contain stipulations to prevent ground disturbance during vegetative clearing within the unassessed portions of the site. Project components have been designed to avoid and minimize effects on the site in consultation with AHC and federally recognized tribal governments. The Project will also introduce an effect to site 1CT710 through the placement of solar arrays in the site boundary, but that effect will not be adverse. Only a small portion of the site contains data potential and that portion will be fenced off and avoided by Project components. Project components would also avoid effects to NRHP unassessed archaeological sites 1CT703, 1CT707, 1CT723, 1CT232, 1CT615, and NRHP eligible site 1CT431 by avoiding these sites with 100 to 600-foot buffers (sites protected by fencing have reduced avoidance buffers), and an avoidance agreement has been signed. All other archaeological sites have been determined not eligible for listing in the NRHP. TVA received concurrence from the AHC (November 26, 2025) and the Tribes (November 11, 2026) that the Project would have no adverse effect to historic properties.

TVA consulted with the AHC, the Belle Mont Mansion Site Director, and federally recognized Indian tribes under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act regarding these findings and avoidance and minimization measures. TVA did not receive any objections of the Project finding of no adverse effect to historic properties from the consulting parties.

Public Involvement

On September 19, 2023, TVA published a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register announcing plans to prepare an EIS to assess the potential environmental effects associated with constructing, operating, maintaining, and decommissioning the Spring Valley II Solar Facility in Colbert County, AL. The NOI initiated a 30-day public scoping period that concluded on October 19, 2023. The NOI solicited public input on the scope of the EIS and the environmental issues that should be considered in the EIS. During the public scoping period, TVA received comments from the Colbert County Historic Landmarks Foundation, the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 3 elected officials, and 37 private individuals. Comments were related to alternatives, land use, prime farmland, water resources, biological resources, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and cultural resources (including the Belle Mont historic site).

A Notice of Availability was released for the Draft EIS on June 27, 2025, in the Federal Register (90 FR 27538), initiating a 45-day public comment period, which ended on August 11, 2025. The availability of the Draft EIS was announced in regional and local newspapers serving the project area and on TVA's social media accounts. A news release was issued to the media and posted on TVA's website. The Draft ( printed page 17826) EIS was posted on TVA's website, and hard copies were made available by request. During the public comment period, TVA held a public meeting on July 15, 2025, to describe the Project and address questions by the public at the Colbert Heights High School in Tuscumbia, AL. TVA accepted comments submitted through mail, email, a comment form on TVA's public website, and during the public meeting. TVA received 55 comments from landowners, non-profit groups (including the Colbert County Historical Landmarks Foundation Board and Amphibian Refuge), and government entities. TVA carefully reviewed the comments received and, where appropriate, revised text in the Final EIS. The NOA for the Final EIS was published in the Federal Register on January 2, 2026 (91 FR 1).

Decision

TVA certifies, in accordance with 18 CFR 1318, that the agency has considered the alternatives, information, analyses, material in the record determined to be relevant, and submitted by State, Tribal, and local governments and public commenters for consideration in developing the Final EIS. TVA has decided to implement the preferred alternative of the Final EIS, which would result in the construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning of the proposed solar PV facility, as well as the construction, operation, and maintenance of a substation and associated facilities to interconnect the solar PV facility to TVA's existing electrical transmission network. This alternative would achieve the purpose and need of the Project.

Mitigation Measures

Spring Valley Solar and TVA would employ standard practices and routine measures and other project-specific measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse impacts from implementation of the Proposed Action Alternative to include but not limited to those measures in the FEIS Section 2.4. Spring Valley Solar and TVA would also implement minimization and mitigation measures based on BMPs, permit requirements, and adherence to erosion and sediment control plans. Non-routine mitigation measures associated with visual, and cultural resources include:

• Visual Resources ○ Maintain a minimum 50-foot setback along all property lines and boundaries adjacent to the Project;

○ Maintain a vegetated buffer (native, non-invasive regionally adapted species), 30 feet in width, around the perimeter of the solar facility (on the outside of the security fence) to provide visual screening from adjacent roadways and surrounding properties.

• Cultural ○ Update the NRHP nomination for the Belle Mont Mansion;

○ Maintain existing vegetative screening around the Belle Mont Mansion;

○ Install new non-invasive vegetative visual screening along Cook Ln between the solar facility and the Belle Mont Mansion and along the property boundary east of the Belle Mont's driveway;

○ Install a green mesh visual screen on the fence behind the newly installed vegetative screen at the Belle Mont Mansion;

○ Avoid all identified historic/potential historic sites in accordance with the signed avoidance agreement document.

Dated: March 26, 2026.

Monika Beckner,

Vice President, Power Supply and Fuels, Tennessee Valley Authority.

[FR Doc. 2026-06773 Filed 4-7-26; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8120-08-P

Published Document: 2026-06773 (91 FR 17824)