According to POWER magazine, manufacturing projects expected to come online soon — included two undoubtedly developed thanks to government subsidies to transition to the “clean energy economy” — will force a state utility to continue to produce electricity from hydrocarbons longer than originally planned. From the story:
Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power has proposed a pivot toward extending the life of several existing coal and natural gas-fired power plants into the late 2030s—well beyond previous retirement timelines—citing rising electricity demand, regulatory constraints, and grid reliability risks.
The utility’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) on Jan. 31, 2025, marks a strategic shift in the company’s approach to managing its supply and demand profile. Over the next 10 years—between the winter of 2024/2025 and 2028/2029—the company expects its load forecast to surge to 9.4 GW. It expects 8.2 GW in load growth over the next six years alone—”an increase of more than 2,200 MW in peak demand by the end of 2030 when compared to projections in the 2023 IRP Update,” the utility noted.
The IRP attributes this to “a growing pipeline of potential and committed large load customers,” including industrial projects like Hyundai’s EV Metaplant in Bryan County— which alone represents “the largest economic development project in Georgia’s history”—and the SK Innovation Battery Plant in Bartow County. As a whole, the IRP reveals that Georgia Power expects a 7% compound annual load growth rate through 2031, fueled by a 22.8 GW active pipeline of potential and committed commercial and industrial (C&I) projects as of the second quarter of 2024—6.8 GW higher than 2023 projections…
The 2025 IRP underscores the need “to invest in its foundational resources” to maintain system reliability. Abandoning earlier plans to phase out its remaining coal plants, the utility has proposed to extend operations at the 3.2-GW Plant Bowen—one of the world’s largest coal plants—beyond 2034 and keep the 648-MW Plant Scherer online until 2038. The move marks a sharp shift from the company’s 2022 IRP, which slated Plant Bowen for retirement by 2027 and Plant Scherer Unit 3 by 2028.
The article also details upgrades and expansion at Georgia Power’s oil- and gas-powered plants.
As for renewables in the IRP, the company “acknowledges key system integration challenges.” POWER also reports, “As more solar and battery storage resources are integrated into the grid, operating reserves are growing increasingly important to manage unexpected fluctuations in generation and load.”
TRANSLATION: The more the grid depends on intermittent solar, wind and inefficient battery resources, the more hydrocarbons (and nuclear) are needed to fill in the dead spots.
Climate alarmists cannot win, but Green New Deal grifters certainly do.
