Georgia Power seeks approval to retire 2.1 GW of thermal capacity (USA)

Georgia Power will request approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to decertify and retire 15 coal- and oil-fired generating units totaling 2,061 MW.

Georgia Power will request to decertify 9 coal-fired power units, namely units 3 and 4 at Plant Branch in Putnam County, units 1-5 at Plant Yates in Coweta County; and units 1-3 at Plant Kraft in Chatham County. The group also aims to retire Kraft-4 oil- and gas-fired unit and oil-fired units 1 and 2 at Plant McManus in Glynn County. The plants would be decertified by April 2015, excepted the Kraft power complex, which would be retired by April 2016. Several factors, including the cost to comply with existing and future environmental regulations, recent and forecasted economic conditions, and lower natural gas prices contributed to the decision to close these units.

Georgia Power will also ask for decertification of Boulevard 2 and Boulevard 3 units in Savannah, due to the costs to repair and operate the units, and will request that units 6 and 7 at Plant Yates switch from coal to natural gas. The company also announced that the conversion at Plant Mitchell Unit 3, in Albany, from coal to biomass cannot be completed before 2017, should it move forward, due to continued regulatory uncertainty related to the Industrial Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule and other EPA rules. The rest of Georgia Power's coal-fired fleet, including the units at plants Bowen, Hammond, Scherer and Wansley, are already in the process of installing additional environmental controls in order to comply with the MATS rule.