Justin Maierhofer on Energy and Economic Growth in TN
Justin Maierhofer is the Regional Vice President of Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) North Region. Justin leads operations and community engagement across Middle Tennessee and Kentucky.
About Justin Maierhofer
Justin Maierhofer is the Regional Vice President of TVA’s North Region, leading operations and community engagement across Middle Tennessee and Kentucky. With nearly two decades of experience in energy policy, economic development, and strategic partnerships, he’s shaping the way TVA collaborates with local power companies, government leaders, and communities to drive sustainable growth.
What is TVA?
Founded in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a unique, bipartisan federal agency dedicated to providing reliable, affordable electricity while fostering economic development across seven states. Unlike traditional utilities, TVA operates without taxpayer funding, relying instead on ratepayers to fuel its mission. Today, TVA is in a critical expansion phase, working to meet the rising demand for power as industries such as AI, data centers, and digital infrastructure continue to grow.
More than 60% of TVA’s energy is now carbon-free, with plans to expand nuclear energy and battery storage to support future demand. This growth comes with challenges, from infrastructure constraints and supply chain issues to cybersecurity threats that require constant innovation and investment.
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Spencer: Justin Meirhofer, Tennessee Valley Authority, vice President for the North Region. Welcome to Signature Required.
Justin: Thank you, Spencer, and thank you Carly, for having me this morning.
Spencer: I felt like I should have given a warning to our audience that I [00:01:00] am so intimidated by your voice and the level of, I was gonna say, he
Carli: has a great podcast voice.
Spencer: Holy. It's credible. Yeah. I feel like I just. Our audience is gonna enjoy hearing from you today, but you have a voice for radio for sure.
Justin: Well, I, I appreciate y'all having me this morning, and I'm a, I'm a Georgia native, so the, uh, the southern accent comes from, from, uh, Carrollton, Georgia, which is where I grew up, uh, first 18 years of my life.
Carli (2): Nice. So, yeah.
Spencer: Well, Justin, one of our objectives today is. The overwhelming majority of our listeners don't know the first thing about energy generation, uh, they don't know the first thing about power.
Spencer: So one of my primary objectives is to have people come away learning a little bit more about what TVA does, what it is, what the challenges are,but before we go into those topics, why don't you just fundamentally explain what TVA is and then we'll go from there.
Justin: It's a great [00:02:00] start, Spencer. So I think, you know, and a lot of people don't know a lot about the electricity business, right?
Justin: I mean, you walk into a room, uh, you flip the light switch and the lights come on, you plug your cell phone in to the outlet and your cell phone charges. But a lot of people don't sit back and think, where is, where's that electricity coming from? What's the fuel source? Is it coal? Is it nuclear? Is it hydro?
Justin: is it battery storage? is it just
Spencer: coming from the wall? Justin? Coming from the wall, just coming outta the wall. Spencer? Yeah.
Justin: But, uh, but TVA was, was founded in 1933, May 18th, 1933. Franklin Donor Roosevelt, uh, signed the TVA Act. We're coming up on our 92nd birthday, uh, here in a couple of months, and we work with our local power companies, 153 of them spread across seven states,
Justin: And they serve the end use customers. So the retail customers, like, like the three of us, uh, I'm, I'm a member of the Middle Tennessee Electric Membership [00:03:00] Cooperative.
Justin: we've been in existence for 92 years. We have a diverse energy mix, but TVA goes beyond just energy. We, we like to say we have a three Es mission. We're energy, environmental stewardship, and economic development. three E's if you will. We also, we have a little bumper sticker, Spencer and Carli that we say we keep the lights glowing.
Justin: We keep the river flowing and we keep the valley growing.
Spencer: Love that. And that's that three E Mission, that's a long bumper sticker. But I do like the message. It's, isn't it. But one important thing about TVA is that we are public power.
Justin: So we don't have shareholders, we have stakeholders. So the American public owns TVA, those are our shareholders. So we work, you know, every day, um, to keep the lights on. And, and, and, you know, energy is an important part of the TVA mission, and we're [00:04:00] public power, by the way. We're not an investor owned utility.
Justin: we work with a lot of investor owned utilities. We have agreements with our neighboring IOUs, as we like to say, we have things called mutual aid and, and if there's a, a tornado or a hurricane, just what we experience with Hurricane Helene mm-hmm.
Justin: That impacted, you know, east Tennessee and Western North Carolina. We work with all of those utilities and we help each other out. In the power business to restore following one of those, you know, natural disasters.
Spencer: So I've been in bitcoin mining for a number of years, and I have, uh, placements of machines that are using electricity all throughout TVA's territory. And for those that are listening and don't know what Bitcoin mining is, the, simplest way to understand it is that there are a whole bunch of computers that are about the size of a shoebox and they consume a ton of electricity powering the [00:05:00] computer that makes the Bitcoin network run.The computer data centers have, servers that verify that each of us are who we say we are.
Spencer: Um, so to that end, there are moments in time where we will receive outreach from. Our power companies to say, we need you to turn off the machines for this six hour period of time. And so is that some of the, the shaving of the peaks that you're talking about is that you work with some industrial suppliers that can plan their schedule around it, and sometimes there's actually compensation that can flow that direction to say, we're gonna pay you for your willingness to participate in this kind of load buffering, uh, uh, picture.
Justin: You, you, you framed it up very nicely there. Spencer and I, by, by the way, I've enjoyed my experience of going to Bitcoin Park
Spencer: Yeah. Here in
Justin: Nashville,
Spencer: just 15 minutes up the road.
Justin: Been there three or four times, and I've, and then over the last, [00:06:00] say a year or two, I've really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the Bitcoin industry and, and data centers.
Justin: Quite frankly, we're, we're experiencing a. What I would call a proliferation of data centers throughout the Tennessee Valley and as, as and, and really across the country, I think. And, and one of the most important things I've heard, my CEO Jeff Ash communicate to people in that industry at Bitcoin Park is that we need to better understand each other.
Spencer: Mm-hmm.
Justin: Yeah. And load shaping demand response ways to make what Bitcoin miners do, more energy efficient. Uh, you know, we're, we're putting about $1.5 billion into energy efficiency and demand response. So in order to, to provide the electricity, uh, system of the future, and, you know, we're, we're building generation, we're, we're committing about $16 billion over the next several [00:07:00] years into our generation mix.
Justin: And a lot of it is because of that, that industry and data centers. Uh, but, but you know, I think a key point there is that, you know, a chat GPT, an AI data search, it requires about three times the amount of electricity as like a Google search. Does
Carli: I have a question because compared to other states that are heavily invested in wind and other things, TVA has focused on nuclear, hydro solar. Can you talk to me a little bit about the energy mix that you guys are working with?
Justin: We have a energy mix of here. Here's how it's broken down. It's very, it's a very diverse energy mix, which I think when you, when you think about energy, we always like to say energy security is national security.
Justin: You know, we serve some national security assets here in the Tennessee Valley, very important assets to the, to our country. Uh, TVA is about 40% nuclear. We're about 30 to [00:08:00] 35% gas, and then we're probably about 15% coal. And then depending on how much rain we get, we're about 10 to 15% hydro.
Justin: So we've got a, we've got a diverse energy mix. Where we're, where we're going now is we've got about 5,500 megawatts of generation, either under construction or weighting environmental permits, uh, to continue with construction or to begin construction, I should say.
Justin: Uh, a lot of that is gas right now. Um, we are also building a lot of solar. We've got about 4,000 megawatts of solar in the pipeline. We're trying to go to 10,000 megawatts of solar by 2035. So we're, we're very, very bullish on solar. We're also, TVA also holds the only early site permit. For the Clinch River site.
Justin: Which is over in East Tennessee.
Justin: And we just [00:09:00] applied for an $800 million grant with the United States Department of Energy with lot of global partners who are also interested in advanced nuclear,
Spencer: what I think is interesting, some people have probably heard of an SMRA small modular reactor, um, but a lot probably haven't. And there's a lot of fear around nuclear energy because immediately everybody goes to Chernobyl or Three Mile Island and Fukushima, all of the places that have seen disasters that either in our lifetime or closely around it.
Spencer: And it creates a lot of hesitation of saying, well, I don't want that anywhere near my state. But what a lot of people don't understand is like our military, our Navy Are running these SMRs on their ships and have been doing so for a long time. Like nuclear is something we really understand how to harness.
Spencer: And so can you [00:10:00] talk a little bit about. The intersection of just impossible levels of regulation versus having the education necessary to push past it. Um, because I imagine that's a huge part of your role, trying to say, Hey, we need more power. We have one of the only sites in America at Clinch River here in Tennessee that can build one of these facilities, but we can't seem to get it going.
Spencer: So can you just address that some?
Justin: Sure. And Spencer, it's a, it's an issue that we deal with regularly at TVA. You know one of my roles, one of my team's roles is to work with local communities. Really across Tennessee, middle Tennessee, but also up in Kentucky to not make people feel good about the power generation that may be in their, in their community, but to be a good [00:11:00] corporate citizen, a good corporate neighbor.
Justin: Um, you know, one of the things that we talk about all the time is that TVA employees live and work and are raising our families right next door. Yeah. To, to a lot of folks in these communities. Uh, I have three children, you know, my wife and I have three children, and, and, and it's very important that, you know, clean, reliable, safe.
Justin: Energy is, is is an important part of, of who we are at TVA and and what we're, what we're advancing. I mean, we, we do believe that a strong economy, the backbone of a strong economy is the reliability, the resiliency, and the safety. Of the electrical system, one of the things that we often hear is not in my backyard.
Spencer: Justin, one of the misconceptions again about energy is that [00:12:00] renewable energy requires more money.
Spencer: In order to create, then really the output that you get from it, in that other words, it has to be subsidized in order for it to make sense. So one of the objectives that you talked about earlier is that solar, you're wanting to expand from, I think you said 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts by 2035.
Spencer: Can you talk a little bit about whether that is a valid theory to say it's important that we do it, but we're just gonna have to pay for it and it just is what it is? Or is that wrong to say? It used to be that way, but where we're at today, these things are actually a net positive for our energy grid.
Justin: Yeah. So, you know, I always like to say we're agnostic when it comes to. The energy. What, what is the fuel source? TVA we tend to think, you know, it, it [00:13:00] really, we really need everything.
Spencer: Okay.
Justin: In our, in our generation mix. The way we think about it though is take an economic dispatch stack and at the, at the top of that stack is hydro.
Justin: That's your cheapest fuel. 'cause think about like the rainfall. Yeah. So hydro's your cheapest, your, your next is probably gonna be, um, nuclear. Interesting. Nuclear construction costs are generally higher. Than most other fuel sources. But once nuclear begins running, you know, one of our nuclear plants right now is about to go into an outage, but it has almost run for 700 days.
Spencer: Wow. Planned outage.
Justin: Planned outage. Always important to mention. Related planned outage. Exactly. Little Aspen. Yes, exactly and then you have, you know, gas and then you have solar. And solar. You know, one of the reasons TVA has, has [00:14:00] really gone into, you know, pretty, pretty hard on solar and, and is built, we're building, we're working with communities to build more solar is because a lot of companies who have come to the Tennessee Valley have worked with TVA and a local power companies.
Justin: To have a cleaner energy source. So think about, think about some of the, you know, companies like LG Chem, you know, they're, they're a good example of, Hey, we're gonna come to the Valley, we're gonna create a lot of jobs, but we would like a, a, a cleaner renewable energy source. Hmm. So you go in the direction of solar in that case.
Justin: Okay.
Carli: Okay. I have to ask a question 'cause we keep talking about the mix and all these different options. Why is it important to have a mix? Why wouldn't you just say, we're gonna be the expert at X and all we're gonna do is X and it's clean and efficient and we're gonna do it? Y do you like to have it broken up by percentage?
Justin: So Carly, I would say, 'cause it's like your, your financial portfolio, there's some [00:15:00] similarities there, right? It you de-risk if, if you're all in on gas and you're a hundred percent gas. The price of gas goes north, then you're gonna be paying a little bit more on your electricity bill, right? Mm-hmm. So, so it's really a hedge against risk for us at TVA to, to make sure.
Justin: And, and the other thing too, Carly, is nuclear is an example. We'll run twenty four seven, three sixty five is what we call base load energy. And then you have the intermediate, which can be gas, and then you have your peaking sources, you know? Um, and for events like that, January cold day, we needed everything.
Justin: Mm-hmm. And we even bought some electricity off the market through agreements that we have with neighboring utilities. Uh, we don't always like to do that because you pay a little bit more.
Spencer: That makes sense? Yeah. Because that costs
Justin: you our rate payers money.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it that, that really [00:16:00] helps explain that well, 'cause like nuclear is a, a great base level of the pyramid, but it sounds like, if I'm interpreting it correctly, you can't really just. Peak the output and say, well, we're gonna run it twice as intensely today. Exactly. For a lot of different reasons, but that might be what people are
Carli: afraid of.
Carli: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Spencer: yeah. There you go. Exactly. Like gas, it sounds like you might be able to turn on or off more quickly versus, you know, turning off a nuclear reactor is not at all what you would label as efficient.
Justin: That's exactly right, Spencer. Because turning off a nuclear reactor gets really expensive.
Justin: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah,
Spencer: that's ma, that makes sense. Okay. I wanna take you in a, a little bit of a different direction. This is just a personal curiosity for me. Um, I. It is amazing to me driving across the state of Tennessee. How many, um, transformer stations, is that what you call 'em? Like what?
Spencer: Substations. Substations. Okay. Mm-hmm. That substations that [00:17:00] look incredibly vital for our energy generation that are just right out in the open. And I think it's amazing that we live in a country that is so secure, that is so safe that we don't deal with a lot of major internal threat, but it's safe to think about in the future that we might mm-hmm.
Spencer: Uh, and that people that have negative intentions for our country might view those as what the military would call soft targets. Can you spend a little bit of time, because earlier you talked about how, you know, security is energy, and energy is security. How does TVA think about some of those targets?
Spencer: And, and maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on the role that anyone plays, but could you just talk a little bit about it? 'cause I just worry about that as an individual, as I drive across the state.
Justin: I'm glad you worry about that, Spencer. I know, it's good. I I it [00:18:00] feels dangerous to me. Yeah, right. No, no.
Justin: Physical security of our system is very important. We have, we have, you know, a number of key assets sprinkled throughout the Tennessee Valley, uh, substations.
Justin: We have a TVA police force and it's their job at TVA to, to patrol to ensure that our system is secure.
Justin: Um, we have, you know, cameras in some of those stations that you were speaking about, Spencer, to make sure that those assets are secure and safe. We also. This probably won't surprise you, but from a cybersecurity perspective You know, we're, we're under, uh, constant attacks from nation states.
Justin: Mm-hmm. Uh, at TVA because as, you both might expect, I mean, taking down the electrical grid, would cause tremendous, uh, [00:19:00] challenges for our country, uh, for our region. Uh, and it would, it would really cripple the, economy of the Tennessee Valley and the country. So, so we have robust cybersecurity.
Spencer: Will you talk a little more about that? Because that, that's another, like, you talked about roles that you've got archeologists, you've got all these different people that it's like, okay, that makes more sense now. It's like you all do a ton of digging and so you're gonna dig up some, you're gonna dig up some burial sites and all kinds of things that you didn't expect.
Spencer: So I, I kind was like, oh, that makes sense. But the cybersecurity, I had a little bit more knowledge over of knowing that that's how the United States very effectively attacks its enemies In non-conventional physical warfare, is that they can get in through the network and all of a sudden the power goes out and you don't know who to blame.
Spencer: You don't know whether it's a real thing or an attack. You're not just dealing with some nerd in their basement. Yeah. Right. You're dealing with [00:20:00] nation state actors. So talk a little bit about what resourcing and planning that you all have around
Justin: that.
Justin: Yeah, and I think it's, it's a, it's a subject of where TVA as a quasi federal government agency, this is where the relationship that we have with our federal government mm-hmm. Is unique. Okay. Yeah. And special Spencer, because we have. Communication with, with agencies that work on these issues every day.
Justin: Okay.
Carli: He's not gonna tell you the underneath part. No,
Spencer: no. But it's great to know that that's a resource. 'cause I forget that. Absolutely. It's, it's because you, you know, you forget that TVA being a federal agency, or at least formed through the federal capacity, does have access to the best and brightest at the CIA or the FBI or the Space Force.
Spencer: AI is where I was gonna go next because the, data center power consumption is, is just absolutely [00:21:00] wild. There's a really compelling story, I don't know if you can speak anything into it, but, Elon Musk out in Memphis forming that huge facility and the power challenges that they're trying to figure out there.
Spencer: Um, you know, on one hand the city of Memphis economically is seeing some incredibly high paying jobs, job creation, all sorts of come coming out of it. But at the same time, uh, you had a city that at one point in time had. A lot of excess power all of a sudden not have enough power to where potentially some of these AI facilities are having to construct their own power plants themselves.
Spencer: That's right. So, um, uh, I'd, I'd love it if you were able to talk any about it, but just even more broadly about how AI is impacting TVA.
Justin: Yeah, it's, impacting us significantly and, and we're, we're trying to build, you know, we have to build the, the electrical system of the future that's gonna, you know, really this is [00:22:00] gonna drive a lot of it.
Justin: I think, uh, you know, the doubling, the tripling of our, our power generation, you know, at, at, you know, if you look at data centers, generally, not a tremendous amount of jobs related to it, right? But, but a very, you know, high level of capital investment. I forget the year it was, but it wasn't too long ago. We actually, we had the old, uh, uh, or the, I should say the former Widow's Creek coal plant down in Stevenson, Alabama, uh, that retired and TVA worked with the local community and we worked with Alphabet or Google, and they actually came in and they, they, they built a $600 million data center on an old coal plant.
Justin: Legacy site right near there.
Justin: but I think it, it, it's a good example of TVA working with the local community
Spencer: Well [00:23:00] Justin, we probably did this in reverse order just 'cause I was so interested in learning about all the things that you're up to.
Spencer: But, um, you clearly could have chosen a lot of different career paths,
Spencer: But you have found yourself in your current role with TVA. So maybe just spend a little bit of time talking about your story. 'cause I wanna make sure that for someone that is such a key decision maker for the direction, not only of Tennessee, but of all the seven states that you're talking about, you have control over part of those regions.
Spencer: Talk to me about your journey to being here today.
Justin: Sure. Spencer, I, I, so I grew up in Carrollton, Georgia. And, and then I went to school down at Florida State University in Tallahassee. And after I graduated with a history degree, I had a, I had a, a strong interest in history and politics and I went, I went to Washington.
Justin: and I interned for Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Spencer: Okay. Uh,
Justin: And then I worked in the United States Senate for a little while for a gentleman named Paul [00:24:00] Coverdale.
Justin: and then, uh, spent several years, you know, working in politics. And, and then I was, I served in President Bush's, uh, department of Energy back in 2001 and 2002,
Justin: but I moved to Knoxville back in 2012. I was chief of staff to to, to our CEO, and really enjoyed that experience. And then TVA moved our family over here to Middle Tennessee.
Justin: We live here in Brentwood and, uh, I've been here since 2022. what makes TVA special, I think is, is our mission. we receive no federal appropriations, and yet we do things like flood control navigation of the Tennessee River.
Justin: Um, so there's no taxpayer money that goes towards TVA for any of those responsibilities that we do. It's all rate payer funded. so it's, it's a huge part of who we are and what we do. And, and the people that I work with, I mean, just, you know, they, they wake up every [00:25:00] day and, and go to work to, you know, to keep the lights on and rates low.
Justin: As low as feasible for folks who live in this, in the Tennessee Valley.
Carli: so I wonder what major misconception, what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about TVA or the power and energy that they're getting to their home? What do you think, what do you most wish that people understood?
Justin: Yeah. You know, Carly, we, we hear a lot of misconception would be we're a hundred percent hydro.
Justin: A lot of, a lot of people don't know about our generation mix that we've talked about today.
Carli (2): Hmm.
Justin: A lot of people think we're, you know, a lot of hydro with the Tennessee River. Mm-hmm. A lot of people think we get taxpayer funding, you know, because we're dot GOV, you know, so you clearly must get appropriations from the government.
Justin: We don't, uh, we are entirely self-financed through power revenue. You know, through our rate [00:26:00] payers and local power company customers.
Justin: But, but they're a misconception, I think, um, Carly is that, you know, we are great in a crisis. We're great during a, you know, restoration after a storm hits the valley.
Justin: But these folks are out there every, every year we've got a fleet of, uh, helicopters. And they're flying 16,500 miles of transmission lines to look for defects in those lines, and they inspect them every single year. So those folks get out there in the helicopters, they get out, you know, outside. A little bit too dangerous for me, Spencer and Carly, I wouldn't, I, I'm, I'm kidding.
Justin: They're safe. They do it safely. Um, but they, they look at all the transmission lines.
Spencer: Yeah. Make your hands sweat, is what I'm hearing. It makes your hands sweat.
Carli: Yeah. They're flying. James Bond also as part of the security portion of your staff. The new James Bond car, the is
Justin: probably gonna come outta TVA.
Justin: I'm just, I
Carli: think that's a hundred percent true.
Spencer: It's [00:27:00] interesting to hear some of the charges that have been given, even though you don't have funding. I, I served on the board for the Red Cross for this region of the country, and they have the exact same setup, is that they're one of the very few nonprofits that have a charter from the federal government to say, you are mandated to do these things.
Spencer: And, and they're a serious punishment if they do not do those things, but they get $0 in order to accomplish it. So it's like, you gotta do all these things. But you know the, what's money between friends? Right? Right. You gotta figure it out. And so it's interesting that mm-hmm. In a similar capacity, you all serve in so many different ways, but you do have specific mandates that come through that doesn't necessarily come along with money.
Spencer: That's right. To accomplish it.
Justin: That's right. And, and Spencer, I think about it as an integrated system. You know, you got the power system, then you've also got the river and all the flood control. We TVA estimates that we save about the, we save the [00:28:00] Tennessee Valley about $300 million. A year in flood damage.
Justin: I believe that.
Spencer: Yeah.
Justin: You know,
Spencer: because you all are the forward scouts, you've already got the engineers, you're seeing these things and you point out to say, Hey, this is a problem. That's right. And maybe you all are part of the solution, but at a minimum it's educational to say, Hey, we see this as an issue.
Spencer: That's
Justin: right. That's right. And, you know, and recreation, you know, a lot of folks like to get out on the, on the lakes and the reservoirs in the summertime. So TVA makes sure the lake levels are, are well, you know, are, are up so people can, can take advantage of that.
Spencer: Justin, one way that we wrap up each of our podcasts is we give you, uh, three short sentences with a blanket, the end and have you fill in the blank with a word or a short phrase. It's
Carli: super scary. Be very afraid. Yeah.
Spencer: Um, so all that you need to do is just reread the little prompt that I give to you, and then fill in the blank with whatever you feel like completes the thought or phrase.
Spencer: Gotcha. So you'll get it. Okay. Sounds [00:29:00] good. All right. The first one, the Future of power generation looks like blank.
Justin: The future of power generation looks like resilient, reliable, affordable, and sustainable. Hmm.
Spencer: That makes a lot of sense. And it is, it's key to our future. 'cause you miss any one of those.
Spencer: Yeah. And the whole thing comes apart.
Justin: I think they all four work together.
Spencer: Yeah. Second question. The biggest challenge facing our energy grid today is blank.
Justin: The biggest challenge facing our energy grid today is investment.
Spencer: Hmm. Speak more on that.
Justin: We have to, we have the ability to build and [00:30:00] invest in the generation and transmission of this country.
Justin: Um, do we have the will to do it?
Spencer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have the ability to do incredible things economically. It's navigating all of the different components and it's, you know, it's not just at the federal level, it's state level. There's all sorts of different things that are cross currents there that shift over time.
Spencer: Exactly. Like you can be right in this place and then you can be really wrong in That's right. A different place. That's
Justin: right.
Spencer: Uh, and then the last one, if Tennessee wants to remain an economic leader, we must blank.
Justin: If Tennessee wants to remain an economic leader, we must invest in the future workforce.
Justin: We must invest in our infrastructure and we gotta invest in our people.
Spencer: Yeah, [00:31:00] I think that's a really important part that businesses that are looking to move to Tennessee, one of the main reasons why they might not. Is whether we have the labor. They like coming here for the tax. They like coming here for the politics.
Spencer: They like coming here for the location. There's a ton of really compelling things about why companies are coming to Tennessee, but that labor issue is still a challenging issue. Do we have not just people, sometimes that's the problem. During certain parts of the states, it's just not very populated.
Spencer: But where we do have the people, do we have the skills necessary to be able to staff the plant, staff, the facility. And you're dealing with exactly that same thing. Except you get to do it across seven different states. Yeah.
Justin: Having that highly skilled trained workforce mm-hmm. Is hugely important to the success I think of Tennessee's future.
Justin: Hmm.
Spencer: Justin, it's been great to have you here [00:32:00] today. I really love getting to highlight people that are doing amazing things for Tennessee that are really behind the scenes, like your career has been focused on making sure that power comes out of the wall. You know what I think you bring a really great humility in the heart of an educator is that it would be easy for you to be here and want to talk over the head of the audience and just say, well, you know, you don't know about these plants and it's because you don't care.
Spencer: And if you didn't have this, you don't bring that attitude at all. It would be a great episode you do some amazing things economically and you also do a great job of teaching it.
Spencer: Uh, and so I appreciate having you here today to walk us through the TVA.
Justin: Thank you, Spencer. I, I, you know, I often think that the electric electricity industry is, not to use a football analogy, but it's a little bit like your offensive line mm-hmm. On the football team, right. Uh, you have to have an [00:33:00] offensive line to clear the path for the running back.
Justin: Yeah. To block the defense from hitting the quarterback so he can pass. Uh, if you don't have the offensive line, you're not gonna score points. And the offensive line is not necessarily the, the, the, the face, if you will, of the organization, but they're hugely important. And that's, that's what I think about the electricity industry as Yeah.
Carli: Literally and figuratively. Hugely important. Exactly.
Spencer: Yes. And we made it full circle to a sports analogy, which just completes your voice. And uh, yes. You know what, it could have been the sports broadcasting,
Justin: what could have been. Yeah, that's right.
Spencer: Thank you for being with us, Justin.
Justin: Thank you. Thank you both.
Justin: I enjoyed it.
Spencer: Justin Maierhofer, the Vice President for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the North region. I really enjoy the conversation [00:34:00] with people that have dedicated their lives mm-hmm. To something that is a real, like, niche area, you know? Sure. Where not a lot of people can talk about energy generation and really the nuts and bolts of what makes our lights turn on and our life enjoyable.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. But he has a command on it to such a degree that he can also teach it. And I really like that in that not only does it just give us some comfort that, uh, the people that are keeping Yeah. That
Carli: somebody knows what's happening.
Spencer: Yeah. Our society on the rails like. Immensely competent, but on top of it that they're willing to sit down and say, Hey, listen, I know this is not everybody's cup of tea, but let me break it down for you in a way that you'll learn something from the conversation.
Spencer: And I think that's great. I really enjoyed talking with him.
Carli: Yeah. I think you made a point the, and it's like kind of like package delivery energy [00:35:00] isn't that sexy? Mm-hmm. Right? Where when you think of energy, you think oil and gas. Coal. And you're also thinking there's a lot of drama on the international stage about energy, right?
Carli: And you're thinking about the ramifications. There's a lot of climate and a lot of people talk a lot of things about energy and I think he did a really good job saying, Hey, we're not leaning too heavily on any one type of energy. We have a mix for a reason. I tried to play a little dumb there and be like, why do you have a mix?
Carli: But I wanted these questions to get out because I don't think the average consumer understands that. They're trying to make sure that we have solar in there, that we're trying to make sure we have hydro. And you did a really good job too, of pulling out the conversation about nuclear energy and how there's so many misconceptions.
Carli: I remember the first time you explained to me that that is what our warships, that is what our submarines work on. I have a dear friend that is a nuclear engineer on submarines, and I was thinking he was a nuclear engineer for the weapons. Yeah, I wasn't, I did not put [00:36:00] two and two together that he was a nuclear engineer to run the mechanics.
Carli: Of the sub.
Spencer: That's right. That's the prop. That's the propulsion.
Carli: Right? And so thinking, gosh, if our military has done this safely for decades and decades and decades, they know how to do it. It makes us feel a little bit better
Carli: That that's the type of energy that we're using, that it's clean and sustainable in that way.
