Expansion of a diverse energy mix includes
continued investment in Georgia
Power's existing generation fleet;
Enhancements to
the power grid to increase reliability and
resiliency;
Customer-focused programs that include
expanded renewable energy options and increased initiatives for
income-qualified customers
ATLANTA, Jan. 31,
2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power today filed its
2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which details the company's
plan to meet the energy needs of customers and support the state's
expected continued extraordinary growth. In the IRP, the company
has proposed necessary investments in its generation fleet and
transmission system to help ensure Georgia Power can continue to
provide its customers with the reliability and resiliency they
deserve and expect, as well as demand-side and customer
programs.
Today's filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC)
builds on the foundation of previous IRPs and the recent 2023 IRP
Update, which was approved by the Georgia PSC in April 2024 (read more here). Georgia Power
continues to see positive economic development trends, in the short
and long term, with many of the businesses coming to the state
bringing large electrical demands. Over the next six years, Georgia
Power projects approximately 8,200 megawatts (MW) of electrical
load growth – an increase of more than 2,200 MW by the end of 2030
when compared to projections in the 2023 IRP Update.
"At Georgia Power, our vision extends far beyond today — we plan
for tomorrow, the next ten years and decades to come," said
Kim Greene, chairman, president and
CEO of Georgia Power. "As Georgia continues to grow, this state is
well-positioned for the future thanks to proactive planning,
policies, and processes like the Integrated Resource Plan. The 2025
IRP provides a comprehensive plan to support Georgia's continued economic growth and serve
Georgians with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy well
into the future."
Expansion of a Diverse Energy Mix
Throughout its more
than 140-year history, Georgia Power has built, maintained and
improved power plants across the state to reliably serve customers
and a growing Georgia. The
company's diverse generation mix has evolved to include cleaner and
more efficient forms of energy generation as technology has
advanced and, as part of the Southern Company system, Georgia Power
continues to be an industry leader in the research and development
of emerging energy technologies.
With the 2025 IRP, Georgia Power proposes continued investments
in existing power plants already in operation today to serve the
needs of a growing Georgia more
economically and with increased efficiency.
Proposed economical extensions and enhancements to existing
generating units include:
- Extended power uprates to reliable, emission-free units
at Plants Hatch and Vogtle. With the completion of Units 3
& 4 at Plant Vogtle, Georgia
is now home to the largest generator of clean energy in the U.S.,
and Georgia Power continues to recognize the importance of
additional nuclear capacity for Georgia's energy future. In this IRP, the
company has proposed additional investment in Hatch Units 1 & 2
and Vogtle Units 1 & 2 to enable those units to deliver an
additional 112 MW of carbon-free energy to Georgia Power
customers.
- Extensions and upgrades to existing power
plants. The company's integration of cleaner natural gas –
which has helped reduce overall carbon emissions by more than 60%
since 2007 – into its fleet continues in the 2025 IRP, with
additional upgrades planned for Plant McIntosh near Savannah that would add an additional 268 MW
of capacity. The company has also proposed extended operation of
certain coal and natural gas units through at least 2034, with
additional upgrades and compliance activities planned at multiple
facilities. This effort includes the continued operation of
coal-fired units at Plants Bowen and Scherer, which have served
Georgia Power customers reliably for decades with approximately
4,000 MW of electricity. The units are among the most advanced
coal-fired units in the world and, over time, have added and now
operate state-of-the-art technology to reduce the environmental
footprint of those facilities, including scrubbers, selective
catalytic reduction systems and baghouses. These advancements have
resulted in reductions in main air emissions by more than 95% over
the past few decades.
- Continued investment to modernize and operate Georgia's hydro fleet. Georgia
Power's fleet of hydroelectric generating units is another source
of emission-free energy, with some units serving the state of
Georgia for more than 100 years.
The 2025 IRP continues the company's efforts to modernize its hydro
fleet with new projects for 9 existing hydro plants including
critical replacements and refurbishments needed for turbines,
generators and other equipment. These units have not been
previously approved for modernization and these efforts are
expected to allow them to operate for at least another 40 years
while improving the efficiency and integrity of the hydro fleet and
preserving valuable, dispatchable carbon-free resources for the
long-term benefit of customers.
Growing Renewable Energy
In its filing, Georgia Power
also continues to demonstrate the importance of economical new
energy procurements through competitive RFP processes, which help
maintain flexibility amid changing market conditions and enable the
company to continue to bring more renewable energy to customers.
The company's long-term plan highlights the procurement of a total
of 4,000 MW of renewable resources by 2035, with at least 1,100 MW
of new renewable resources proposed in this IRP. These new
resources would expand the company's renewable resource portfolio
to approximately 11,000 MW by 2035.
Procurement of energy from new battery energy storage (BESS)
projects is also expected to be a part of all-source capacity RFPs,
building on the company's current plans to add more than 1,500 MW
of BESS in the coming years (read more).
Enhancing the Power Grid to Increase Reliability and
Resiliency
Georgians continue to benefit from a more
reliable and resilient power grid, thanks in large part to
strategic investments Georgia Power has made over the last decade.
In recent years, the company has provided exceptional reliability
with fewer and shorter power interruptions (read more), and the
state's growing "smart grid" is showing value for customers by
reducing service impacts of severe weather from events like
Hurricane Helene and Winter Storm
Cora.
A large factor in maintaining reliable electric service every
day, as well as during severe weather events, is Georgia Power's
continued investment in the state's integrated transmission system.
The transmission system moves high-voltage energy from generation
plants to local distribution power lines to serve customers.
The 2025 IRP includes Georgia Power's 10-year transmission plan,
which identifies the transmission improvements needed to maintain a
strong and reliable transmission system to move energy from new and
existing power plants to customers across the state. The company's
10-year plan proposes new transmission resources across more than
1,000 miles of transmission lines, improving the system's
efficiency and resiliency, and providing the energy infrastructure
needed for a growing state. Additionally, the company has proposed
a variety of economic and innovative solutions, including new grid
enhancing technologies to help meet increasing grid capacity needs
and enable further reliable integration of the state's growing
amount of solar generation and BESS.
Diverse, Customer-Focused Programs
In addition
to investments in its transmission and generation systems and
assets, Georgia Power recognizes how important demand-side
resources, such as energy efficiency programs and demand response
programs, are to its resource mix and customers' overall
experience. Georgia Power's portfolio of customer programs is
continually evolving to offer innovative options that help
customers meet their sustainability and resiliency goals, as well
as enhance energy efficiency and provide customers with more
control over their energy usage.
"The changing needs of our customers – and how they use energy
every day in their homes and businesses – are at the center of
every decision we make," added Greene. "We work with customers
every day to help them find solutions that work for them, and we
know that every kilowatt we can help them save matters. Through the
IRP process, we not only consider how we make and move electricity,
but also how to leverage the latest customer insights to develop
programs that help our customers meet their unique needs and use
energy more efficiently."
In the 2025 IRP, Georgia Power seeks to continue to advance and
innovate its program designs, while maintaining focus on enhanced
system reliability and affordability for all customers. Highlights
include:
- Solutions to meet increasing customer demand for
emission-free, sustainable, and resilient energy including
a new solar plus storage program for residential and small
commercial customers; a new distributed energy resource
(DER)-enabled demand response program aimed at meeting the capacity
and resiliency needs of large customers; and expanding existing
customer subscription programs to facilitate the addition of more
renewable resources available for customer subscriptions.
- Increased initiatives for income-qualified
customers. The 2025 IRP includes a focus on demand side
management offerings specifically for income-qualified customers.
The company proposes to continue and expand successful programs
including Energy Assistance for Savings and Efficiency (EASE) and
HopeWorks, among other adjustments to various customer
programs.
To learn more about how Georgia Power is meeting the needs of
customers through a diverse, balanced energy portfolio, and the IRP
process, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com.
About Georgia Power
Georgia Power is the largest
electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's
premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and
Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.8
million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to
delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy, Georgia
Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes
nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar,
hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power offers rates below the
national average, focuses on delivering world-class service to its
customers every day and is recognized by J.D. Power as an industry
leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit
www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook
(Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), X (X.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram
(Instagram.com/ga_power).
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain information contained in this release is
forward-looking information based on current expectations and plans
that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking
information includes, among other things, statements concerning
projected economic growth and load growth, planned capacity
additions, and expected timing for the Georgia PSC vote on the 2025
IRP. Georgia Power cautions that there are certain factors
that can cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader
is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking
information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is
subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of
which are outside the control of Georgia Power; accordingly, there
can be no assurance that such suggested results will be
realized. The following factors, in addition to those
discussed in Georgia Power's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2023, and subsequent
securities filings, could cause actual results to differ materially
from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking
information: variations in demand for electricity; available
sources and costs of natural gas and other fuels and commodities;
transmission constraints; the ability to control costs and avoid
cost and schedule overruns during the development, construction,
and operation of facilities or other projects due to challenges
which include, but are not limited to, changes in labor costs,
availability, and productivity, challenges with the management of
contractors or vendors, subcontractor performance, adverse weather
conditions, shortages, delays, increased costs, or inconsistent
quality of equipment, materials, and labor, contractor or supplier
delay, the impacts of inflation, delays due to judicial or
regulatory action, nonperformance under construction, operating, or
other agreements, operational readiness, including specialized
operator training and required site safety programs, engineering or
design problems or any remediation related thereto, design and
other licensing-based compliance matters, challenges with start-up
activities, including major equipment failure or system
integration, and/or operational performance, challenges related to
pandemic health events, continued public and policymaker support
for projects, environmental and geological conditions, delays or
increased costs to interconnect facilities to transmission grids,
and increased financing costs as a result of changes in interest
rates or as a result of project delays; legal proceedings and
regulatory approvals and actions related to past, ongoing and
proposed construction projects, including Public Service Commission
approvals and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission actions; the ability to construct facilities
in accordance with the requirements of permits and licenses, to
satisfy any environmental performance standards and the
requirements of tax credits and other incentives, and to integrate
facilities into the Southern Company system upon completion of
construction; advances in technology, including the pace and extent
of development of low- to no-carbon energy and battery energy
storage technologies and negative carbon concepts; the ability to
successfully operate Georgia Power's generation, transmission, and
distribution facilities, and the successful performance of
necessary corporate functions; the inherent risks involved in
generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, including
accidents, explosions, fires, mechanical problems, discharges or
releases of toxic or hazardous substances or gases and other
environmental risks; potential business strategies, including
acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses, which cannot
be assured to be completed or beneficial to Georgia Power; the
ability of counterparties of Georgia Power to make payments as and
when due and to perform as required; the direct or indirect effect
on Georgia Power's business resulting from cyber intrusion or
physical attack and the threat of cyber and physical attacks;
global and U.S. economic conditions, including impacts from
geopolitical conflicts, recession, inflation, tariffs, interest
rate fluctuations and financial market conditions, and the results
of financing efforts; access to capital markets and other financing
sources; the ability of Georgia Power to obtain additional
generating capacity (or sell excess generating capacity) at
competitive prices; catastrophic events such as fires, earthquakes,
explosions, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and other storms,
droughts, pandemic health events, political unrest, wars or other
similar occurrences; and the direct or indirect effects on Georgia
Power's business resulting from incidents affecting the U.S.
electric grid, natural gas pipeline infrastructure, or operation of
generating or storage resources. Georgia Power expressly disclaims
any obligation to update any forward-looking information.
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SOURCE Georgia Power