As your new hydropower representative on the FEWS community strategy board, I would like to introduce myself.  I am a Water Resources Engineer at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and primarily support TVA’s River Forecast Center.  First, some background information on TVA and our Forecast Center. 

TVA is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA was established in 1933 as one of President Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal programs, providing jobs and electricity to the rural Tennessee River Valley.  In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.

TVA’s River Forecast Center, located in Knoxville, Tenn., is staffed around the clock, 365 days a year, monitoring the river to minimize flooding, as well as to track water quality data, availability and demand—all with the goal of routing water through the system to provide the most public value given changing weather conditions and water demands. The forecast center balances a 49-dam, integrated river system to provide flood-damage reduction, navigation, hydroelectric power, water quality, water supply and recreation.

My introduction to FEWS began with a simple system in El Salvador, however most of my experience has been in building TVA’s FEWS system. Over the past six years of using FEWS, I have developed an admiration for the community, and management of the software.

At TVA, we have a very complex and active FEWS system including, hydrologic models, reservoir optimization in Riverware, hydraulic modeling in HEC-RAS, real-time 3D modeling in Delft3D and many other smaller models. In addition, we have done our own integration with FEWS. This includes a custom reporting website, data warehouse, forecast verification system, and many other smaller apps. 

We are avid supporters of FEWS and the community. I am excited about pushing FEWS into the future and keeping the technology relevant and forward-looking for hydropower agencies and the community as a whole. 

If you are a hydropower agency and would like to provide your feedback or brainstorm ideas together, please reach out to me.  In addition, I am happy to provide our insight and experience to other hydropower agencies looking to adopt FEWS as their platform. 

Best Regards,
Gabe Miller