Georgia Power’s energy plan formalizes coal plant retirements, but falls short on energy efficiency, solar

ATLANTA, GA.— State regulators today voted to approve Georgia Power’s newest long-term energy plan, formalizing the utility’s retirement of two polluting coal plants and adding more than 2 gigawatts of solar resources, enough to power more than 200,000 homes.

The Public Service Commission unanimously backed Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan, which shows how the state’s largest utility will provide electricity to its more than 2.5 million customers over the next 20 years. 

As part of the final plan, Georgia Power will retire four coal-burning units at Plant Hammond near Rome, and one coal unit at Plant McIntosh near Rincon, west of Savannah. Utility staff did an in-depth analysis of the coal units and found that keeping them online doesn’t make economic sense. Sierra Club agrees with Georgia Power’s findings, and it’s clear the same logic also applies to its other coal boilers.

Even though Georgia Power is right to cut back on dirty, climate-disrupting coal, it’s still moving much too slowly to phase out fossil fuels and it lags in helping families and businesses get more access to money-saving energy efficiency programs.

Georgia was once one of the fastest growing states in the nation for solar, but has started to slip. The Peach State’s installed solar capacity has fallen out of the top 10, languishing behind Southeastern neighbors North Carolina and Florida. Sierra Club's undisputed expert testimony entered into the record during the IRP hearings contended that Georgia Power should add an additional 13 gigawatts of solar to the grid.

The finalization of this new energy plan comes as cities across Georgia are calling for 100 percent clean energy, and it comes a little more than a year after Georgia Power’s parent company, Southern Company, released a report announcing its electricity generation fleet will be “low to no carbon” by 2050. However, that goal relies heavily on nuclear power from the billions over budget Vogtle Plant, as well as on fracked gas, which not only exposes customers to a volatile market, but worsens the climate crisis. 

Meanwhile, renewable energy technologies are the cheapest form of new electricity generation across most of the world—cheaper than both coal and gas.

In response to today’s vote, Stephen Stetson, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Georgia, released the following statement:

“Our expectations for Georgia Power are much higher than what’s in this final plan. Although this result is more than the company first proposed, it’s still much less than Georgia needs. 

“Throughout the hearing process, we heard credible expert testimony push for double, triple, even 10 times the amount of solar proposed in this plan. It’s disappointing to see Georgia Power stagnate on Georgia’s booming solar potential. 

“And even with the smart, and overdue, coal retirements at Plants Hammond and McIntosh, this plan is still far too slow in getting rid of dirty power plants. Phasing out coal at places like Plant Bowen or Plant Wansley would have put additional downward pressure on rates for people across Georgia, and would help us to cut off the source of air emissions and toxic coal ash. We don’t need coal to generate safe, clean, affordable and reliable electricity.

“Although we aren’t satisfied with the results of this planning process, we appreciate the leadership of the PSC in advancing the ball for clean energy—and we’ll keep pushing for ambitious action to move away from dirty, dangerous, outdated energy sources and toward plans that prioritize equitable energy efficiency programs and a 100 percent clean energy grid that protects our air and water, creates good local jobs, and keeps bills low for families and businesses.”