The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has commenced commercial operations of the John Sevier combined cycle plant, located near Rogersville, Tennessee, US.

The plant, worth about $30m, uses natural gas to generate 880MW of electricity, enough to power around half a million homes.

It was built by TVA’s Generation Construction, which was responsible for the plant’s construction.

Generation Construction senior vice president Bob Deacy said the John Sevier combined cycle plant is a testament to TVA’s commitment to provide cleaner, lower-cost generation.

"Credit for this great success goes to the workers and the project management team for implementing the construction plan with a tireless eye toward quality work while beating our commitments for timing and budget," Deacy said.

The first cycle of a combined cycle plant uses three combustion turbines similar to jet engines to generate electricity.

The heat from the exhaust of the turbines is captured in a secondary system to produce steam that is sent to a steam turbine, which generates additional electricity.