Georgia Power, Department of Energy and elected officials mark the future of Plant Wansley at special event on April 30

Leaders from Georgia Power and Southern Company joined with the Department of Energy, as well as state and local elected officials and community leaders, on Thursday, April 30 at Plant Wansley to mark the future of the historic power plant site in West Georgia. Since opening in 1976, Plant Wansley has been an essential piece of Georgia Power’s diverse generation mix, providing reliable energy for the state as it has grown over the decades, as well as an economic driver in Heard and Carroll counties. Georgia Power retired all active coal-fired generation at the plant in 2022 and has now started construction of two new combined cycle (CC) units that will produce a combined 1,453 MW of energy, as well as a new 500-megawatt (MW) battery energy storage system (BESS). 

In February, Southern Company and the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced a $26.5 billion loan package to support these projects, as well as similar projects in Alabama. Over the approximately 30-year term of the loans, customers are expected to recognize estimated savings of $7 billion.  

“This development at Plant Wansley is just one example of what’s happening across Georgia where we are adding more than 10,000 megawatts of new generation in the coming years to provide baseload power and forecastable, dispatchable capacity for our customers,” said Kim Greene, chairman, president and chief executive officer for Georgia Power at the event. “The future of Wansley reflects how Georgia Power continues to evolve to meet the needs of a growing state—supporting economic development, strengthening reliability, and delivering energy our customers can count on today and for decades to come. We are grateful for the support and partnership of the Department of Energy, the members of the Georgia General Assembly and Georgia Public Service Commission, and many other state and local partners who share our commitment to reliable and affordable energy for every Georgian.” 

With the approval of the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), Georgia Power continues to expand its diverse generation mix to serve customers and meet growing energy demand with the addition of new natural gas generation, battery energy storage, nuclear uprates, investments in hydropower, as well as transmission system improvements and grid enhancements across the state. In addition to Plant Wansley, additional natural gas generation projects are planned or underway at sites such as Plant Bowen (Bartow County), Plant McIntosh (Effingham County) and Plant Yates (Coweta County), with thousands of megawatts of additional battery energy storage systems also under development, and more than 1,000 miles of new transmission lines planned in the coming years across the state.

Customer benefits of new generation assets, as well as the importance of affordable energy, was a recurring theme throughout the event at Plant Wansley, with Greene highlighting how Georgia Power is leveraging growth to benefit existing customers. As Georgia continues to grow, the increasing number of large-load customers like data centers has been a key factor that enabled the company's base rate freeze, and is helping spread fixed costs across a broader customer base and protect residential and small business customers. Growth has also allowed the company to commit to providing annual savings of $102 per year for the typical residential customer beginning in 2029.