The Watts Bar Steam Plant is the first fuel-burning electric power plant constructed by the TVA. The first two of its four 60,000-kilowatt generating units were placed in commercial operation in February and March 1942 at a time when the products of industry and agriculture in the valley region were critical items in the war effort. These units increased the continuous energy capacity of the TVA system to approximately 830,000 kilowatts and the system peak to about 1,100,000 kilowatts. The further addition of Cherokee, Chatuge, and Nottely Dams and the down-river units raised the continuous energy of the system to 960,000 kilowatts and the peak capability to about 1,300,000 kilowatts by the fall of 1942. The third Watts Bar Steam Plant unit began operation in February 1943 and the fourth in April 1945 - important factors in keeping ahead of system demands.

The Colbert Steam Plant is located on the south bank of Pickwick Landing Lake at mile 245 (Tennessee River mileage upstream from the confluence with the Ohio River) and 14.5 miles downstream, or west, of the Wilson Dam.

Cherokee is the tenth major hydro project authorized for construction of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the seventh to be completed. The dam is located at mile 52.3 on the Holston River which unites with the French Broad River just above Knoxville to form the Tennessee River. This main tributary project was the first of several TVA dams authorized under World War II emergency program and constructed on an emergency basis. Although operated primarily for power during the war emergency, Cherokee forms an integral unit in the overall system of water control projects in the Tennessee Valley, and under normal multiple purpose operation aids in reducing main-river flood stages and in stabilizing low water flows.