Tag Archives: Georgia Power

GA PSC hearings on Plant Vogtle CWIP monitoring

Will GA PSC yet again approve passing cost overruns for the new nukes at Plant Vogtle on to Georgia Power customers? Hearings started today about that. You can listen, and you can testify, today or in August or September, or in writing.

GA PSC PR 15 July 2013,


Contact: Bil Edge
Phone 404-656-2316
www.psc.state.ga.us 		Georgia Public Service Commission

244 Washington St S.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Phone: 404-656-4501
Toll free:1- 800-282-5813
Fax: 404-656-2341
For Immediate Release
 MEDIA ADVISORY 7-13

PSC to Begin Hearings on Georgia Power Company Eighth Semi-Annual Nuclear Construction Project Monitoring

Atlanta, July 15, 2013 – The Georgia Public Service Commission (Commission) will begin its first set of hearings on July 18, 2013 at 10 a.m. on the Georgia Power Company Eighth Semi-Annual Nuclear Construction Projection Monitoring, Docket 29849. The hearing will take place in Room 110 at the Commission offices at 244 Washington Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30334.The hearing will continue, if necessary, at 10 a.m. on Friday July 19, 2013. Additional hearings are scheduled for August 13-14, 2013 and September 12, 2013.

The Commission will begin by receiving the testimony of any public witnesses pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 46-2-59(g). Immediately following public witnesses, the Commission will hear applications to intervene and any objections thereto, and any motions concerning the utilities pre-filed testimony and other appropriate motions. Following these preliminary matters, the Commission will conduct hearings on the direct case of Georgia Power.

The schedule in this docket is as follows: Continue reading →

Monticello nuke down 5 1/2 months and $267 million over budget

83% cost overrun on a 12% power upgrade, but no worries! Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant The nuke operator will pass that through to the customers. Duke had the good sense to shut down Crystal River. Maybe we should stop the new nukes at Plant Vogtle, which have already run up more than twice the cost overruns of Monticello, before they cost us even more for power we could get much faster and on-budget through solar or wind energy.

Katherine Tweed wrote for IEEE Spectrum 16 July 2013, Minnesota Nuclear Plant Upgrade Is $267 Million Over Budget,

After being shut down for four months, Minnesota’s Monticello nuclear power plant will restart this week with an additional 71 megawatts of capacity, a 12 percent power uprate. The increased costs, however, will far outstrip the additional percentage of power production.

The project, which included maintenance, upgrades and the uprate, was budgeted at $320 million. But Monticello has cost overruns of about 83 percent, or $267 million, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The plant’s owner, Xcel Energy, has not released Continue reading →

Solar power to Peru’s poorest

While we’ve been fighting over solar for 1% of Georgia Power’s production (we won, yay!), Peru is busily providing solar power for almost all of its poorest citizens.

Don Lieber wrote for PlanetSave 15 July 2013, Peru To Power 2 Million Of Its Poorest — By Solar Energy

The first phase of the program, called “The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program” was initiated on Monday (July 8) in the Contumaza province, where 1,601 solar panels were installed. These installations will power 126 impoverished communities in the districts of Cupisnique, San Benito, Tantarica, Chilete, Yonan, San Luis, and Contai.

As MEM says, PR 066-11 14 February 2011,
The availability of solar power makes its use attractive throughout the whole country.

MEM remarked about a 20 MW solar plant in Moquegua, PR 197-11 11 May 2011,

Project will produce clean energy and generate local employment Continue reading →

More solar by Georgia Power –GA PSC

It’s a win for jobs and clean air and plenty of water in Georgia! Doubled requirements on solar power, and a dozen coal plants shut down.

2, 4, 6, 8, solar power can’t wait!

The astroturf resistance fizzled, while the pro-solar grassroots coalition won. (Pictures of the two demonstrations by Ted Terry.)

525 megawatts more solar power required, on top of last year’s 210 megawatts, for more than 735 MW total. That’s still trailing New Jersey’s already-installed 1,000 MW, but it’s a big step forward.

The vote was either 4 to 1 ( Ray Henry of AP) or 3 to 2 (Georgia Sierra Club tweeting from the Commission chamber). As Ray Henry tweeted:

“All opposed, say aye.” Wait, what? #gapsc

I’m guessing at least one nay vote was Stan Wise, judging by these @gasierraclub tweets: Continue reading →

Solar may win today at the Georgia PSC

There’s still time to call in and make your voice heard, (800) 282-5813. The swing vote is the Commissioner for south Georgia, H. Doug Everett. Solar power may win over Georgia Power today.

Greg Bluestein and Kristi E. Swartz wrote for the AJC yesterday, Solar supporters see rare loss on horizon for Georgia Power,

If Georgia Power says it needs something, it usually gets it. Over the years, state regulators have cleared the way for the utility to land new power plants, more transmission lines and rate increases, often without much heated debate.

Walter C. Jones wrote for jacksonville.com yesterday, PSC likely to require Georgia Power to double its reliance on solar power Thursday Continue reading →

F is for solar in Georgia, #45 in 2013 state solar power rankings

F for all three main Southern Company states: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Florida manages a B for rank #23, presumably because SO only covers part of the panhandle. Coincidence? While SO’s tiger team studies someday maybe doing something about distributed solar, the Georgia Public Service Commission could double solar requirements on Georgia Power this week.

You can clearly see those three SO states on this map by GigaOm:

Solar Power Rocks.com asked 19 June 2013 in 2013 State Solar Power Rankings,

“How do we recognize and reward legislatures for admirable solar energy policy while holding them accountable to do better?” Continue reading →

SO’s plan to make the Southeast a net exporter of the energy from solar and wind? –John S. Quarterman @ SO 2013-05-22

SO CEO Tom Fanning didn’t budge from nuclear and coal, but he did announce a tiger team to get on top of distributed solar and wind through a smart grid, headed by SO’s COO, at the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.

Next question --Tom Fanning Mr. John S. Quarterman from Lowndes County, Georgia, and he holds 220 shares of Southern Company.

TF: Hello, John. Good to see you again this year.

jsq with SO fade jsq: Hi. I’ve come to compliment Tom Fanning and Paul Bowers. Last year, Tom Fanning was so persuasive I ran out and bought $10,000 worth of stock.

TF: Bless you. [Applause]

However, apparently because of SO’s admission a few minutes before in that same meeting that it was going to have to eat Kemper Coal cost overruns, SO stock tanked that same day, causing my stock to stop out, and Standard & Poor’s downgraded SO the following day because of Kemper Coal, noting that if the same thing happened with SO’s nuclear project at Plant Vogtle, S&P’s would probably Continue reading →

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle and move to wind and solar power –Courtney Hanson @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle, especially its water use, and move to efficiency, wind, and solar power instead, said Courtney Hanson of Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND) at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She reminded GA PSC Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are late and over budget, and then:

I want to add my voice to the chorus of folks here who are concerned about water issues. We know that Vogtle 3 and 4 will require an additional withdrawal of as much as 74 million gallons a day from the Savannah River and most of that water will not be returned. We know that the central Savannah River area where Vogtle is located is already very prone to droughts and the plant has been close to shutting down several times due to drought conditions. Georgia is also already struggling to supply enough water for our homes, businesses, industries, and farms.

In addition, the Savannah River is Continue reading →

It is not enough to add a little solar and wind on top of fossil and fission fuels –a German @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A German national residing in Georgia asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels and nuclear, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change, and we need to do something about it.

I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something, some matter of fact. A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity, and so on. Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out. For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is no longer acceptable. We need drastic changes in our energy supply. We need to use less.

Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s parent company Southern Company reemphasized yet again that

To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.

Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude, as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading →

More solar, less nuke cost overruns –Glenn Carroll @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states, plus efficiency and conservation, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle, which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement, costs, etc. She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.

The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power is being isolated. It is protected financially of course because of the small business and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that they are taking. We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.

She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at Port Angeles, presumably the one in Washington State.

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →