Georgia Power: Wait nevermind, Plant Scherer not going anywhere

In fairness, the defeat of the anti-coal Democrats in November isn’t the only factor in Georgia Power’s new direction. Georgia Power also cited the rapidly growing power needs of the state as a guiding motive in their 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), submitted Friday to the state Public Service Commission (PSC). Power companies are required to submit the IRPs every 3 years. Georgia Power’s submission on Friday was an update to an earlier IRP.

The new IRP calls for Georgia Power to continue operating coal-burning plants at Plant Bowen near Cartersville and Plant Scherer in Juliette, which would provide about 4,000 megawatts of electricity. Those are among the most advanced coal units in the world, equipped with state-of-the-art technology that reduces their carbon footprints, according to a news release from the company.

It was a far cry from February 2022, when Georgia Power told the PSC it plans to shut down Plant Scherer by 2028 but left open the possibility of staying open if the economics of coal improve.

Monroe County commissioner John Ambrose told the Reporter in 2022 that the election of a new president in 2024 might save the county’s biggest taxpayer and private employer. And it appears he was right.

“We need three more years to get a new president and put coal back in business,” Ambrose told the Reporter prophetically in 2022.

Two Florida power companies already shut down the part of Plant Scherer they own, Unit 4, in December 2021. Georgia Power said in 2022, it planned to retire the remaining units, 1, 2 and 3, on Dec. 31, 2028. But the majority owners of Units 1 and 2, MEAG and Oglethorpe Power, scuttled those plans by saying they would continue operating those units no matter what Georgia Power did. Georgia Power actually only owns Unit 3 but manages the whole facility. As Georgia’s power needs have surged, Georgia Power has even been negotiating to buy the closed Unit 4 to reopen it. But those talks have apparently bogged down.

Plant Scherer pays about 40 percent of the property taxes for Monroe County government and schools, about $14 million per year. Plant Scherer also provides about 400 jobs. With Plant Scherer’s future uncertain, Monroe County last year landed a new data center, a new Oglethorpe Power gas power plant and a Buc-ee’s that are expected to more than make up any losses from Plant Scherer. But now it appears those losses will be very minimal.

Plant Scherer is also spending millions to convert from wet ash to dry ash storage. Meanwhile, late last year, Georgia Power settled a 12-year-old lawsuit brought by Juliette residents who claimed coal ash from the plant harmed their property, wells and their health. In the settlement agreement, the residents had to agree that there was no evidence Plant Scherer actually harmed them.

The PSC will vote on the new IRP later this year following several rounds of hearings.