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{{#Show badges: | CoalSwarm | nuclear spin}}'''Georgia Power''' describes itself as "an investor-owned, tax-paying utility that serves 2.25 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties." It is the largest of four electric utilities comprising [[Southern Company]].<ref>[http://www.georgiapower.com/about/home.asp Georgia Power: About Us"], Georgia Power website, accessed July 2009.</ref>
In 2006 the Savannah Electric & Power Company, a separate subsidiary of [[Southern Company]], was merged into Georgia Power.<ref>[http://outdoorlighting.georgiapower.com/docs/Bright%20Ideas%20Summer%2006.pdf "Bright Ideas"] Georgia Power’s Outdoor Lighting newsletter, Summer 2006.</ref>
==Coal Plant Conversion==
{{#evpev:youtube|OJeCK6IqHLg|400|right|Biomass Conversion at Mitchell Plant.|right|200frame}}
In March 2009 the Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power's request to convert its [[Mitchell Steam Generating Plant (Georgia)]] Unit 3 from coal-fired to biomass. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will reportedly be able to produce 96 megawatts of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States. Georgia Power says it will draw on wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the power plant, and plans to begin the conversion by spring 2011.<ref>[http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12363 "Georgia Power Wins Approval to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass Power"] U.S. Department of Energy Website, March 25, 2009</ref> Plant Mitchell is one of many [[Coal plant conversion projects]] throughout the U.S.
==Proposed coal unit retirements==
===Branch Plant===
In March 2011, Georgia Power announced that it expects to request approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission to decertify two coal-generating units 1 and 2 at the [[Harllee Branch Generating Plant]], totaling 569 megawatts. The company expects to ask for decertification of the units as of the effective dates of the Georgia Multipollutant Rule, which are currently anticipated to be Dec. 31, 2013 for unit 1 and Oct. 1, 2013 for unit 2. GP said the costs of upgrades would be uneconomical for its customers. The commission is expected to vote on the decertification request in spring 2012.<ref>[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/georgia-power-announces-plans-to-decertify-two-coal-generating-units-118074374.html "Georgia Power Announces Plans to Decertify Two Coal Generating Units"] PR Newswire, March 16, 2011.</ref>
===Branch, Yates, and Kraft===
On January 7, 2013, Georgia Power said it plans to seek approval from Georgia regulators to retire 15 coal-, oil- and natural gas-fired power plants in the state, totaling 2,061 megawatts (MW).
The coal plants would be units 3 and 4 at [[Harllee Branch Generating Plant|Plant Branch]] in Putnam County; units 1-5 at [[Yates Steam Generating Plant|Plant Yates]] in Coweta County; and units 1-3 at [[Kraft Plant]] in Port Wentworth.
Also being retired are Kraft Unit 4 and Boulevard Plant 2 and 3, fired by natural gas and oil, and McManus Plant units 1-2, which are oil-fired.
The company said it expects to ask to retire the units, other than Kraft 1-4, by the April 16, 2015, effective date of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) [[Mercury and Air Toxics]] (MATS) rule. The company said it expects to seek a one-year extension of the MATS compliance date for Plant Kraft and retire those units by April 16, 2016.<ref>[http://www.ajc.com/news/business/georgia-power-to-close-coal-oil-units/nTpSx/ "Georgia Power to close 15 coal, oil units,"] AJC, Jan. 7, 2013.</ref>
==GP and coal regulations==
In July 2011, Georgia Power said it can’t meet the Jan. 1, 2012 deadline of the [[Cross State Air Pollution Rule]] by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cap and regulate two major pollutants - [[sulfur dioxide]] and [[nitrogen oxide]] - from its coal-fired power plants. The EPA disagreed, saying in a statement: “[Utilities] have known that these emission reduction requirements were coming for many years now, and many have already taken many or all of the steps needed to comply.”
Utilities that cannot meet the requirements will be forced to buy emission allowances, which vary in price depending upon the state. (For Georgia Power, the cost of emissions would start at $600 for every ton of sulfur dioxides and $500 for every ton of nitrogen oxides, with built-in increases for 2014.). Georgia Power would recover the cost of the emission allowances through fuel charges. The company could not ask for those costs until the emissions are actually used.
The new EPA edict requires reductions in region-wide sulfur dioxide emissions of 20 percent by 2012 and 50 percent by 2014, and to curb region-wide nitrogen oxide emissions by 12 percent in 2012 and 18 percent in 2014. Georgia is grouped with states that won’t have to observe the 2014 requirements, the EPA said.
Georgia has struggled with its air quality for decades. In 1986-88 measurements by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, the region’s [[ozone]] level reached its worst on record — measured at 124 parts per billion. When the EPA set 84 parts per billion as the ozone standard in 1997, the region registered 118 parts per billion in 1997-99 measurements; only in 2011 did it meet the 1997 standard.
Georgia Power has pollution [[scrubbers]] installed on four of its coal units at [[Plant Bowen]] and [[William P. Hammond Steam-Electric Generating Plant]], as well as two units at [[Wansley Plant]] and one of the four units at the [[Scherer Steam Generating Station]]. Bowen and Wansley also have selective catalytic reduction (SCRs), as does one of the four units at Hammond. Scrubbers and SCRs are being built for the remaining units at Scherer. The installed scrubbers and SCRs must be done by 2015. The utility also has said it plans to close two of the four coal-fired units at Plant Branch. Plant McDonough’s two coal units are being converted to three natural gas units, the first of which will start producing power in 2012.
The new EPA rule is the first of two that will impact coal plants. Guidelines to regulate mercury are expected in November 2011.<ref>Kristi E. Swartz, [http://www.ajc.com/business/ga-power-says-it-1039156.html "Ga. Power says it can't meet EPA deadline"] Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 23, 2011.</ref>
==Georgia Power and nuclear==
Georgia Power plans to convert the 1960s coal-fired Plant McDonough into a bigger power plant that uses natural gas. The conversion will replace 540 megawatts of coal-fired generation with more than 2,500 megawatts of natural gas generation.<ref>[http://www.georgiapower.com/environment/air_quality.asp "Improving Air Quality"] Georgia Power Website, September 2009</ref>
===Report: Georgia Power's nuclear plants not replacing coal===
A 2011 report by NC Warn, [http://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/NCW-NuclearClimate_web.pdf "New Nuclear Power is Ruining Climate Protection Efforts and Harming Customers"], argues that companies like Georgia Power have said they want to lead the way to a “low carbon” future by building more nuclear power plants, but instead of replacing their coal-burning plants with nuclear power, the companies "plan to keep operating most or all of their coal plants indefinitely, while adding more nuclear (and fossil fuel) plants so they can expand electricity sales both within and outside the region."
The report states that "Georgia Power, part of Southern Company, plans to increase its generating capacity by a net 3,282 MW by 2020. If successful, its nuclear capacity would grow by 1,007 MW based on Georgia Power’s ownership share of two AP1000 units now in a pre-licensing construction phase at its Plant Vogtle site. The company plans to close old, small coal units that represent 11.6% of its coal fleet’s 10,690 MW capacity."<ref>Jim Warren, [http://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/NCW-NuclearClimate_web.pdf "New Nuclear Power is Ruining Climate Protection Efforts and Harming Customers"] NC Warn, 2011 Report.</ref>
==Compensation==
In 2011, ''Forbes'' listed Georgia Power CEO [[W. Paul Bowers]] as receiving $5.58 million in total compensation for the 2011.<ref>[http://people.forbes.com/profile/w-paul-bowers/79205] Forbes.com, March, 2011.</ref> Bowers replaced Michael D. Garrett in December, 2010.<ref>[http://www.ajc.com/business/new-ceo-at-georgia-744629.html "New CEO at Georgia Power,"] Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Nov. 17, 2010.</ref>
==Citizen action==
In 2013 leaders of the Atlanta [[Tea Party]] challenged Georgia Power over its reluctance to increase the use of solar power, the ballooning costs of building a new nuclear power plant, and its legal right to monopoly status.<ref>Ray Henry, [http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Tea-party-targeting-Southern-Co-power-monopoly-4569567.php#ixzz2VAONKXrj "Tea party targeting Southern Co. power monopoly,"] AP, June 2, 2013.</ref>
==Contact information==
Atlanta, GA 30308<br>
Phone: 404-506-6526<br>
Website: http://www.georgiapower.com<br>
==Articles and resources==
[[Category:Energy]]
[[Category:Georgia]]
[[Category:Nuclear PR]]
[[Category:Power companies and agencies in the United States]]
{{wikipedia}}
