Georgia’s energy regulators are considering Georgia Power’s request to generate and buy more electricity to meet what the utility calls a surge in demand from new businesses in the state. State lawmakers, meanwhile, are grappling with a leading source of that increased power demand: high-tech data centers.
Georgia Power says the spike in demand is so high and will be needed so soon that it needs to rapidly add sources of electricity to the grid, so it has filed an update to its long-range power plan, known as the Integrated Resource Plan or IRP. The company is seeking approval to buy electricity from other utilities, build new gas and oil turbines at an existing power plant, and build new solar and battery storage.
But in recent hearings before the Georgia Public Service Commission, experts, advocates, and members of the public questioned the utility’s forecast and its plans to meet the demand.
“Their plan relies largely on the same old technology: power from coal- and gas-fired power plants,” said Larry Heiman of Dunwoody during the public comment section of Thursday’s hearing. “My question is, doesn’t this unprecedented situation deserve some unprecedented thinking?”
These proceedings, focused on sources of energy, don’t dig into what any changes will ultimately cost customers. Georgia Power rates have gone up four times in the last fourteen months, with the PSC’s approval. Any decisions about the impact to rates from these proposed changes would come later.
Planning for the future
The latest hearings were the second phase in Georgia Power’s IRP update. In January, the Public Service Commission heard from the utility. This time, expert witnesses for the commission’s staff as well as stakeholders – including environmental and consumer advocates, municipalities, energy providers, and major electricity customers like Walmart and the Department of Defense – weighed in.
They criticized…
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