After the Tennessee Valley Authority successfully completed a lease-purchase agreement in mid-January that infused it with $1 billion to spend on capital construction, the federal power producer expects to begin working on a second transaction this spring.

TVA is nearing the $30-billion debt cap—congressionally mandated in 1979—and needs to raise capital to complete planned projects. It expects to spend $2 billion on large capital projects this year and $9 billion through 2014, says Chief Financial Officer John Thomas. TVA's debt now hovers at around $26 billion.