Georgia Power moves toward more solar, wind generation

Georgia’s Public Service Commission approved a long-run plan last July mandating that Georgia Power produce more electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources than the Atlanta utility originally had proposed.

Georgia Power said it is in the initial stages of getting the PSC’s approval for its first batch of new power-generating capacity from such sources —525 megawatt — under the 2016 plan. It calls for Georgia Power to add 1,600 megawatts of renewable power within six years, mostly through contracts with utility-scale projects built by other companies.

The PSC also approved Georgia Power’s request to spend $99 million — it would be at least $175 million including long-term financing costs — for a preliminary study of a site near Columbus for a potential nuclear power plant.

But the utility recently suspended that study after Tokyo-based Toshiba disclosed that it has lost $6 billion building Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear plant near Augusta and another project in South Carolina. Toshiba, which is providing the reactors for those projects, also said it will not be building any new nuclear plants.

Georgia Power’s longterm plan also called for closing one coal-fire unit and two oil-fired units at Plant Mitchell near Albany, and an oil-fired unit at Plant Kraft near Savannah. All of those units, representing a total of 234 megawatts of capacity, had already been shut down and were officially retired when the PSC approved the 2016 longterm plan, according to Georgia Power.

There was only “minimal staffing” at the two plants, Georgia Power said, because most employees at the two plants had been reassigned, retired or left for other jobs.

The Plant Kraft facility is being donated to the Georgia Ports Authority. Georgia Power hasn’t decided what to do with the Plant Mitchell facility.

The 2016 plan also approved a feasibility study for wind power generators on extra tall towers in Georgia. Georgia Power said it has purchased the instruments needed to test wind speed at a height of 600plus feet, and will study potential locations over the next two years.