Georgia Public Service Commission approves plan to reliably, economically meet the energy needs of a growing Georgia

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) today approved Georgia Power’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The final, approved plan will allow the company to continue to meet the energy needs of customers and support the state’s expected continued extraordinary growth. The approval by the Georgia PSC follows months of filings, hearings and testimony, and hours of public discussion around the long-term energy plan that was originally submitted by the company in January, and a stipulated agreement reached last week between the company, PSC Public Interest Advocacy (PIA) Staff and multiple intervenors.

Georgia Power continues to work with all stakeholders to develop and execute plans that help ensure that the state can meet future energy demand, make investments needed for reliability and resiliency of the power grid, and keep energy costs affordable for customers. The approval of the 2025 IRP is the latest step in this continued, constructive regulatory process and follows other significant regulatory actions such as the 2023 IRP Update, the recently revised and PSC-approved rules and regulations, and a new plan to freeze Georgia Power’s base rates through at least 2028.

“As our state continues to grow and thrive, the approval of this comprehensive plan helps to ensure we have the resources and programs we need to reliably and economically meet the future energy needs of our customers,” said Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “The IRP is an incredibly complex and detailed process that brings together people from many backgrounds who are vested in our state’s energy future. I’m grateful to everyone who helped develop this plan and participated in the process over the last six months, and to the Georgia PSC for its careful consideration and approval of a strategy that will help us deliver the energy Georgians need and deserve.”

Over the next six years, Georgia Power projects approximately 8,500 megawatts (MW) of electrical load growth – an increase of approximately 2,600 MW in peak demand by the end of 2030 when compared to projections in the 2023 IRP Update. As this projected growth continues, the approved 2025 IRP outlines continued processes with the Georgia PSC to monitor growth, including quarterly filings of Large Load Economic Development Reports and additional load forecast updates in the coming years.

The approved 2025 IRP includes necessary investments in the company’s generation fleet and transmission system to help ensure Georgia Power can continue to provide its customers with reliable and resilient energy, as well as demand-side and customer-focused renewable and resiliency programs. Additionally, the approved plan includes appropriate “reserve margins” for the company, a critical element of the planning process focused on ensuring sufficient reserve generation necessary to deliver reliable electric service for customers during periods of temporary high demand such as extremely cold or extremely hot days.

Expansion of a Diverse Energy Mix

Throughout its more than 140-year history, Georgia Power has built, maintained and improved power plants across the state to reliably serve customers and a growing Georgia. The company’s diverse generation mix has evolved to include cleaner and more efficient forms of energy generation as technology has advanced and, as part of the Southern Company system, Georgia Power continues to be an industry leader in the research and development of emerging energy technologies.

With the approval of the 2025 IRP, Georgia Power will continue to invest in existing power plants already in operation today to serve the needs of a growing Georgia more economically and with increased efficiency.

Approved economical extensions and enhancements to existing generating units include:

• Extended power uprates to reliable, emission-free nuclear units. With the completion of the Plant Vogtle expansion last year, Georgia is now home to the largest generator of clean energy in the U.S., and Georgia Power continues to recognize the importance of additional nuclear capacity for Georgia’s energy future. In this IRP, the company received approval to reinvest in Vogtle Units 1 & 2 upgrades to enable those units to deliver an additional 54 MW of carbon-free energy to Georgia Power customers. The company also received approval to proceed with preliminary planning, licensing and engineering for potential future capacity uprates at Hatch Units 1 & 2.
• Extensions and upgrades to existing power plants. The company’s integration of cleaner natural gas – which has helped reduce overall carbon emissions by more than 60% since 2007 – into its fleet continues with the approval of the 2025 IRP. Key elements of the final plan include upgrades at Plant McIntosh near Savannah that would add an additional 268 MW of natural gas capacity, as well as extended operation of certain coal and natural gas units through at least 2034, with additional upgrades and compliance activities planned at multiple facilities. The company has received approval for the continued operation of coal-fired units at Plants Bowen and Scherer, which have served customers reliably for decades with 4,000 MW of generating capacity, and new pursuit of natural gas co-firing at those plants which will aid in continued compliance with federal environmental regulations. The units are among the most advanced coal-fired units in the world and, over time, have added and now operate state-of-the-art technology to reduce the environmental footprint of those facilities, including scrubbers, selective catalytic reduction systems and baghouses. These advancements have resulted in reductions in main air emissions by more than 95% over the past few decades. 
  
• Continued investment to modernize and operate Georgia’s hydro fleet. Georgia Power’s fleet of hydroelectric generating units is another source of emission-free energy, with some units serving the state of Georgia for more than 100 years. The approved 2025 IRP furthers the company’s efforts to modernize its hydro fleet with additional investments and upgrades at the Tallulah, Yonah, Bartlett’s Ferry and North Highlands hydro facilities. Units at these plants have not been previously approved for modernization and these improvements are expected to allow them to operate for at least another 40 years while improving the efficiency and integrity of the hydro fleet and preserving valuable, dispatchable carbon-free resources for the long-term benefit of customers. Additional hydro investments are expected to be submitted in the 2028 IRP.

Growing Renewable Energy

As a part of the approved 2025 IRP, Georgia Power will continue to focus on economical new renewable energy procurements through competitive request for proposal (RFP) processes, which help maintain flexibility amid changing market conditions and enable the company to continue to provide more carbon-free energy to customers. The company’s approved long-term plan highlights the procurement of a total of up to 4,000 MW of renewable resources by 2035 approved in this IRP, with an initial target of 1,100 MW of new renewable resources sought through competitive Utility Scale and Distributed Generation procurements. These new resources would expand the company’s renewable resource portfolio to approximately 11,000 MW by 2035.

Procurement of energy and capacity from new battery energy storage (BESS) projects is also expected to be a part of all-source capacity RFPs, building on the company’s current plans to add more than 1,500 MW of BESS in the coming years (read more).

Enhancing the Power Grid to Increase Reliability and Resiliency

Georgians continue to benefit from a more reliable and resilient power grid, thanks in large part to strategic investments Georgia Power has made over the last decade. In recent years, the company has provided exceptional reliability with fewer and shorter power interruptions (read more), and the state’s growing “smart grid” is showing value for customers by reducing service impacts of severe weather from events like Hurricane Helene and Winter Storm Cora.

A large factor in maintaining reliable electric service every day, as well as during severe weather events, is Georgia Power’s continued investment in the state’s integrated transmission system. The transmission system moves high-voltage energy from generation plants to local distribution power lines to serve customers.  

The approval of the 2025 IRP includes a 10-year transmission plan with transmission improvements needed to maintain a strong and reliable transmission system to move energy from new and existing power plants to customers across the state. The 10-year plan includes new transmission resources across more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines, improving the system’s efficiency and resiliency, and providing the energy infrastructure needed for a growing state. Pursuant to the stipulated agreement and as approved by the PSC, the company will meet semi-annually with PIA Staff to provide updates on various projects and will continue to identify and consider alternative solutions for each project, and the associated costs and benefits. Additionally, the company will implement a formal process to evaluate new grid enhancing technologies to help meet increasing grid capacity needs and enable further reliable integration of the state’s growing amount of solar generation and BESS.

Diverse, Customer-Focused Programs

Georgia Power’s portfolio of customer programs is continually evolving to offer innovative options that help customers meet their sustainability and resiliency goals, as well as enhance energy efficiency and provide customers with more control over their energy usage. In addition to investments in transmission and generation systems and other assets, the approved 2025 IRP includes demand-side resources, such as energy efficiency programs and demand response programs, that bring value to the company’s resource mix and improve customers’ overall experience.

Highlights of the approved 2025 IRP include:

• Solutions to meet increasing customer demand for emission-free, sustainable, and resilient energy including a new solar plus storage program for residential and small commercial customers; a new distributed energy resource (DER)-enabled demand response program aimed at meeting the capacity and resiliency needs of large customers; and expanding existing renewable customer subscription programs to facilitate the addition of more renewable resources to meet customer needs. Additionally, the approved 2025 IRP includes a new Electric Transportation “Vehicle to Everything” pilot, which will include a partnership with public school systems to study how underutilized electric vehicle batteries can be used to benefit the grid.
• Increased initiatives for customers in the most need. The final 2025 IRP includes a focus on demand side management offerings specifically for customers in the most need. With the approval of the PSC, the company will continue and expand successful programs including Energy Assistance for Savings and Efficiency (EASE) and HopeWorks, among other adjustments to various customer programs.
• New tools to help customers save money and energy. Georgia Power will further enhance its portfolio of tools for customers with a new online residential energy audit tool, a team of residential energy experts and other technologies that can help customers understand their energy usage and address and alleviate affordability concerns.

To learn more about how Georgia Power is meeting the needs of customers through a diverse, balanced energy portfolio, and the IRP process, visit  www.GeorgiaPower.com.