"Southern Co.’s Georgia Power utility announced a plan yesterday to double its renewable energy footprint by 2035 as it maps out a path to close the rest of its coal fleet in that time.
The moves, which reflect the electric company’s continued transition to cleaner fuel sources, would help Southern achieve a net-zero carbon goal by 2050 for electricity. Other steps at Georgia Power include extending the life of hydropower units and Plant Hatch nuclear reactors, adding 1,000 megawatts of energy storage, and revamping energy efficiency and solar programs.
Georgia Power plans to shutter 12 coal units, totaling about 3,500 megawatts, by 2028. It wants to replace that electricity with a combination of renewables as well as 2,356 MW of natural-gas-fired power that it plans to buy from power plants that are already running. For context, once two additional nuclear reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle start producing electricity, the total 4,536 MW from four units there will power up to 1 million homes.
The company delivered its highly anticipated 20-year-long-term energy plan to state utility regulators yesterday afternoon. The 200-page document outlines the utility’s continued transition into one that is less reliant on baseload fossil fuel generation and more on distributed generation."
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