Georgia Power grilled about possible gas units not mentioned in long-range plan

Georgia Power this week stood by claims that a surge in electricity demand is coming and defended its plans to meet those needs by continuing to burn coal and modernizing aging power plants.

The company also faced tough questions about why it omitted information about a possible major gas expansion it’s considering at a power plant in northwest Georgia.

Over three days of hearings at the Public Service Commission, Georgia Power executives were grilled about the company’s energy road map for the next 20 years, known as an Integrated Resource Plan, and the forecasts that underpin it. Commissioners also faced the ire of Georgia Power customers frustrated by rising bills and worried about how the company’s plan will affect the climate.

Georgia Power is required to submit its long-range energy plans to the PSC for approval every three years.

A range of stakeholders — from solar groups and consumer advocates to the U.S. Department of Defense and tech giant Microsoft — had the chance to question Georgia Power’s executives this week. In later proceedings, they’ll be able to call their own witnesses to testify.

Whatever plan the PSC approves will affect customers’ electricity bills, but not immediately — that will be sorted out after the company proposes new rates in July.

Load growth questions

Georgia Power said the electricity demand it sees on the horizon has no parallel — and almost all of it is from data centers.

The utility says it may need to add 9,000 more megawatts of electric-generating capacity by 2031. Michael Robinson, Georgia Power’s vice president for grid transformation, said that kind of growth would surpass anything in the company’s history — even the so-called “dot-com boom” or the emergence of air conditioning.

Last year, the Atlanta region was the top U.S. market for data center leasing, according to the real estate services firm CBRE.

As they have before, Georgia Power executives said this week 80% of the electricity demand growth it’s forecasting comes from data centers. Many facilities are bringing electricity needs of 100 megawatts or more, but company officials said this week at least one it expects to serve could demand almost 1,500 megawatts. That’s enough to power a small city.

Jeffrey Grubb, Georgia Power’s director of resource planning, said investments the utility wants to make to serve data centers will “benefit all customers.”

But the company faced questions about whether its projections can be trusted.

A recent analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Georgia Power has often overestimated demand for electricity in its forecasts. And already, the company’s recent forecasts show lower expected demand in 2026 and 2027 than earlier projections.

Robert Baker, a former Public Service Commission commissioner now representing energy services provider Resource Supply Management, asked whether overbuilding presents a risk to customers. Utilities like Georgia Power earn profits on building power plants, transmission lines and other capital expenses. Ratepayers are typically charged for those costs.

Grubb agreed customers do bear risk, but said “they also get the benefit of having those resources from a reliability standpoint.”

What’s the company’s plan?

Credit: Elijah Nouvelage

Credit: Elijah Nouvelage

Just three years ago, Georgia Power called its coal plants “uneconomical.” Now, coal is once again central to the company’s road map to meet future demand.

Georgia Power has asked the PSC to allow it to continue burning coal at Plant Scherer, near Macon, and Plant Bowen, outside Cartersville, well into the 2030s. One of Scherer’s units was set to retire by the end of 2028. Bowen’s final closure date had not yet been determined.

The company also wants to keep coal and gas units at Plant Gaston, southeast of Birmingham, Alabama, running beyond their planned 2028 closure dates.

Under cross-examination, Georgia Power executives conceded “the timing has probably moved out” on its plans to phase out coal.

“We’re still focused on making sure that we transition to clean … but we focus first on reliability, then affordability and then that transition,” Grubb said.

The utility also wants permission to:

Filling the gap with gas

One of the week’s most revealing moments concerned what was not in Georgia Power’s plan.

Not counting the planned solar and battery additions or coal plant extensions, the upgrades Georgia Power proposed would give it 517 megawatts of added electric capacity by 2031. But that’s only a fraction of the 9,000 megawatts it said it expects to need.

So how will the utility make up the gap?

In this week’s hearings, it was revealed that new gas power plants could play a major role.

Earlier this month, Georgia Power submitted an application to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for permission to construct four new gas-burning units at Plant Bowen.

On Tuesday, Jennifer Whitfield, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, asked company executives about the permits. Each new unit would produce about 722 megawatts of power.

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Grubb, the Georgia Power executive, confirmed the company is considering building gas units at Bowen, along with adding other power resources. Grubb also said they are evaluating other assets to be part of what he said would be the largest expansion of Georgia Power’s electric generation fleet in company history.

But the Bowen units were not mentioned in Georgia Power’s 167-page main filing. Whitfield, who represents Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and Southface Institute in the case, asked the company why. State law that lays out the integrated resource planning process says utilities must provide “the size and type of facilities which are expected to be owned or operated” by the company over the next 10-plus years.

“How are we supposed to effectively intervene to judge the economics of this mix of resources?” Whitfield asked.

Steven Hewitson, a Troutman Pepper Locke attorney representing Georgia Power, objected to Whitfield’s request for the company to share details about the energy resources it’s evaluating.

In response to questions about the omission, Georgia Power spokesperson Jacob Hawkins said the company continues to “work through the IRP process and follow all statutory requirements.” Hawkins said the company is exploring the gas expansion as part of its long-term plan approved in 2022, adding the new units are being evaluated “through a competitive RFP (request for proposals) process designed to bring generation online in time to meet demand AND in the most cost-effective way possible.”

Public Service Commission Chairman Jason Shaw said he would take the matter “under advisement.”

Climate concerns

During public comment periods, home builders, economic development officials and leaders from some Georgia colleges vouched for Georgia Power’s plan. They said approving the energy road map would ensure the company can continue providing reliable electric service, a key tool for business recruitment and job creation.

But on Tuesday, roughly a dozen Emory University students urged the PSC to reject the plan. They argued that by locking in reliance on coal and gas plants for years to come, Georgia Power is contributing to climate change and ensuring a hotter, more dangerous future.

Global average temperatures hit a record high last year, and Georgia has also been heating up in recent decades. Scientists have known for decades that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity — primarily burning fossil fuels — are the main driver of global warming. Higher temperatures are also linked to heavier rainfall, rapid intensification of storms and other extreme weather.

“I’m not saying this because I’m a tree hugger or a Democrat,” Emory student Ava Trachtenberg said. “I’m saying this because I love this city, the state and the planet, and I want myself and my kids to have a livable future.”

A note of disclosure

This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at ajc.com/donate/climate.