Georgia Power plans to expand power generation across various sources. That includes delaying the decommissioning of certain coal plants. Hence the environmental tizzy.
But this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The US is reindustrializing, and electricity demands are poised to skyrocket. With manufacturing, AI and data centers all requiring constant, reliable power, there’s not a whole lot of viable options that can provide a base load like coal.
Eventually coal is going to get the boot, but it’s a necessary evil for the time being. As energy transitions begin, we’ll take one step closer to saying goodbye, but that could be a decade or two from now.
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One would hope that one day nuclear gets another run. As you say not ready yet but we hope soon. Green energy investment seems to be out of style for now but we hope progress continues.
Extending the service life of coal plants is one way. Are we building new ones in the US? China yes. In the US EPA could shut them down any time. Running a fully depreciated plant is one thing; building new quite another. Very risky. Natural gas plant is a better choice.
Once on these boards people were excited about integrated cycle combined cycle plants. Presumably that is best available coal fired technology. Did any get built?
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On the last go around, TI tried to decree that utility companies maintain a certain, minimum, percentage of the generation capacity be from plants that have fuel stored on site. Only two types of thermal plants have on site storage, nuclear and coal, so the decree was a mandate to keep using coal.
Steve
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In the video and transcript, Zeihan talks about Georgia Power and its recently published Integrated Resource Plan. In that plan, Georgia Power also described proposed efforts to uprate several of its nuclear units, to squeeze some extra megawatts out of each plant. These uprates will take place at Vogtle units 1 and 2, and Hatch 1 and 2.
In addition, Georgia Power is also considering new nuclear capacity. This comes after recently putting the Vogtle 3 and 4 into service.
From the link:
“The company believes that additional nuclear power will be needed over the long-term to reliably and economically serve the energy needs of its customers,” Georgia Power said. “Similarly, nuclear power provides a long-term pathway to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the cost pressures that potential future environmental regulations could impose on the existing fossil-fired fleet and future new fossil resources.”
And:
However, it says: “Even with new nuclear generation’s numerous benefits, undertaking the construction of new nuclear generation carries substantial risks for all stakeholders involved. Before proposing additional new nuclear generation, the company believes that solutions must be developed to adequately balance and mitigate risks to stakeholders.”
It adds that “preserving viable new nuclear generation options for the benefit of customers is a priority” for the company. Accordingly, it continues to perform in-depth assessments of potential project sites, evaluate available and emerging technologies, and engage with stakeholders in developing improved methods to deploy new nuclear generation projects. “Over the long-term, with adequate additional risk mitigations and leveraging the experience gained with Vogtle units 3-4, the company believes customers would benefit from additional new nuclear in the future.”
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_ Pete
Ameren announced today plans to add nuclear. They have been one of the largest coal users. Their largest at Labadie, MO is scheduled to run until 2035. They recently shut down Rush Island and paid a major settlement to EPA for violations. It will be replaced with a nearby gas fired plant.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ameren-missouri-updates-generation-strategy-boost-investment-jobs-2025-02-14/[https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ameren-missouri-updates-generation-strategy-boost-investment-jobs-2025-02-14/](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ameren-missouri-updates-generation-strategy-boost-investment-jobs-2025-02-14/)
Now they see SMR nuclear reactors in the future and plant to extend the service life of their single Callaway County nuke plant. The future they now say will be 40% nuclear, 30% renewable and 30% natural gas–mostly as peakers.
This is a significant change from attitudes on nuclear in Missouri. Previous plans to build a twin nuclear plant were rejected. But now they seem to see a need for nuclear.