Oglethorpe Power, which owns a 30% stake in the Vogtle power plant, is looking for an additional federal loan guarantee to fund its share of the cost of completing the 1,117 new nuclear Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4 power units. The company has already secured a US$3bn loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DoE) but now requests US$1.6bn of additional support. Oglethorpe Power is limited to borrowing up to 70% of its share of the project cost according to the terms of the original loan guarantee. If approved, these additional funds could potentially decrease the overall price tag of the project, which is now slated to cost as much as US$27bn, well above its original estimate of US$14bn.
The construction works of the two nuclear reactors thrive in spite of the Westinghouse bankruptcy in March 2017. In August 2017, Southern Nuclear, the operator of the Vogtle nuclear power plant, has installed the first steam generator at the third unit, currently under construction near Waynesboro, Georgia (United States).
The Vogtle plant has two operating pressurized water reactors manufactured by Westinghouse rated 1,215 MW each, which were commissioned in 1987 and 1989. It is jointly owned by Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30%), the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7%) and Dalton Utilities (1.6%). As per the expansion project, Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear will build two AP1000 units, Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4, rated 1,117 MW each. The new units are under construction and are expected to be commissioned between February 2021 and March 2022 for Vogtle-3 and between February 2022 and March 2023 for Vogtle-4.
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