Clayton Clem, P.E., F.SEI of TVA Vice President of Strategic Projects and Initiatives

Biography:

Mr. Clem has been with TVA since 1979 in various roles, including the design and construction of telecommunications, transmission line and substation facilities for TVA and external customers. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tennessee Technological University (TTU), a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC) and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Tennessee.

As the Vice President of Electric System Projects and Transmission Engineering he has been responsible for overseeing the transmission planning, siting, public meetings, survey, engineering, project management, construction and commissioning of facilities to maintain bulk transmission reliability, ensure NERC/FERC compliance and provide local power company and industrial connections to the grid. Activities include supporting TVA’s economic development recruitment of large industrial customers such as automotive, tire, data center and polysilicon producers along with serving the needs of military bases and the National Lab at Oak Ridge. During his tenure as VP, $3.1B in improvements were made in TVA’s seven-state, region from 2007-2017 and planned improvements including strategic projects of $2.1B have been initiated for 2018-2022. He guided standardization of major equipment and the application of innovative technology to gain maximum value for TVA while improving operating flexibility. In his role as a member of TVA’s Leadership team, he has also served in a number of key TVA wide roles such as the Trilateral Safety Alliance.

Currently; as Vice President, Strategic Projects and Initiatives, he is responsible for unique projects like the 3500-mile expansion of TVA’s fiber network, the construction of a hardened control center and other strategic projects including grid resiliency initiatives across TVA’s 80,000-square mile footprint. Continuous improvement initiatives include stream lining TVA’s transmission assets to focus on the bulk electric reliability and inventory initiatives to right size inventory providing major equipment critical spares and material to support emergency operations.

During his career, Mr. Clem has been involved in the development of and co-authored numerous industry guides and standards such as the Design of Lattice Steel Transmission Structures. He also has served as an advisor to industry-sponsored projects and a speaker at various technical conferences. Currently, Mr. Clem serves as Chair of the SERC’s Engineering Committee reporting to SERC Board Executive Committee and is a member of the NERC Planning Committee, the Executive Committee for the Eastern Interconnect Planning Committee, the US National Committee of CIGRE, the North American Transmission Forum’s resiliency committee and serves on the Advisory Council for Engineering at TTU.

In 1998 he was chosen as TVA’s Engineer of the Year and was selected as one of the Top Ten Federal Engineers of 1998 by NSPE. In 1999 ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute recognized him with the Innovations in Transmission Line Engineering Award. Most recently, Mr. Clem was honored in 2011 by being chosen TTU Engineer of Distinction and in 2012 as Outstanding Alumnus. In 2012 Mr. Clem was chosen as a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute for his service as a leader and mentor in the profession.