TVA says 120 grid structures damaged by storm

HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) - The Tennessee Valley Authority has restored to service 14 high-voltage transmission lines knocked out by the severe storms and tornadoes that devastated large tracts of the U.S. Southeast on Wednesday.

Utilities on Friday said more than 900,000 homes and businesses remained without power. More than 120 transmission poles or metal structures were damaged by high wind and tornadoes, knocking out 70 power lines.

The damage includes a large portion of TVA's 500-kilovolt "network grid backbone" and most of the 161-kv lines serving northern Alabama and Mississippi.

Initially, TVA said more than 90 power lines were out of service after the storm moved across seven states.

TVA continues to assess the damage.

About 74 power distribution companies which TVA supplies have reported that 612,000 homes and businesses were without power early Friday, down from a peak of about 677,000.

FACTBOX of power outages across Southeast [ID:nL3E7FT33B]

TVA said it expects to restore transmission service by early next week to a majority of the local distribution companies and to the large industrial customers it serves directly.

All three units of TVA's 3,200-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear power plant were shut safely after losing off-site power due to the storms. The station may be shut for weeks until grid repairs are sufficient to move power from the West Virginia plant, the second-largest nuclear power facility in the nation. [ID:nN28262530]

Only one of the eight units at TVA's Widows Creek 1,623-MW coal-fired plant is operating after a tornado damaged the plant's switchyard in northeast Alabama, TVA said. (Reporting by Eileen O'Grady; Editing by Alden Bentley)