Georgia Power proposes big project in Smyrna
Atlanta Business Chronicle - 9:30 AM EST Wednesday
Georgia Power wants to replace its only coal-fueled plant in metro Atlanta with a natural gas-fueled generating unit, which it says would be more efficient and would help improve the area’s air quality. Replacing coal-fueled Plant Jack McDonough in Smyrna, Ga., with a natural gas-fueled “combined cycle” generating unit would be more cost effective than retrofitting the plant with expensive environmental controls, Atlanta-based Georgia Power said. The natural gas-fueled unit also will produce cleaner energy than McDonough’s two coal units, even if those coal units were retrofitted with the additional controls.
Plant Jack McDonough was built in the 1960s to provide electricity to metro Atlanta. The company recently demolished a 60-year-old coal plant — Plant Atkinson — at the same site.
Georgia Power will propose in its Integrated Resource Plan filing in January with the Georgia Public Service Commission investing in a new 800-megawatt natural gas combined cycle unit at the 370-acre site.
In a prior filing at the PSC, Georgia Power proposed adding two other 800-megawatt natural gas fueled generators at the McDonough site. The addition of a third unit to replace McDonough’s coal-fueled units would bring the capacity of the site to 2,400 megawatts. Georgia Power will file a certification request for the first two units with the PSC in late January.
If the PSC approves all of Georgia Power’s proposals and the company gets the appropriate permits, construction is would start on the first gas unit in 2008. This unit is scheduled to be on-line late in 2010, and the total project would be finished by 2012. Georgia Power is a unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. (NYSE: SO).