Senate Bill 31: Should Georgia Power PreeBill for Nuclear Construction?

February 10, 2009

By Stephen Willis, for the Journal-Constitution

Georgia Power is now in the process of skipping around the normal Public
Service Commission approval process, and getting Georgia's legislature to
commit the people of Georgia to paying for an absurdly expensive nuclear
white elephant called the Vogtle expansion -- up front!

Why the rush? Georgia Power knows that, as has already happened in Europe,
falling costs for alternative sources of energy will make free market
competition in power production unavoidable in the next decade.
Wind-generated electricity is already about half as expensive per
kilowatt-hour as Georgia Power's nuclear proposal at Plant Vogtle.
Individual customers will soon find it economical to install solar power,
and relatively small business ventures will be able to implement wind farms
which can economically out-produce coal or nuclear, especially when carbon
impacts are considered.

Could it be that Georgia Power is concerned that time is not on their side?
The Obama administration is certainly committed to energy independence and
renewable energy, but has had very little to say about the role of nuclear
energy. Georgia Power's panic to get the Georgia Legislature to commit the
state to its nuclear plans before the new administration gets its feet on
the ground suggests that Georgia Power doesn't see its chances getting any
better as America's new energy program is implemented.

The most obvious threat to Georgia Power's big monopoly nuclear and coal
plan is the development of Georgia's offshore wind resources. To forestall
this, Southern Co., Georgia Power's parent company, has worked with the U.S.
Minerals Management Service to obtain exclusive rights to the development of
offshore wind in Georgia for at least five more years. During this time
Southern Co. plans to revisit a 2007 Georgia Tech study, which has already
shown that Georgia offshore wind production is highly feasible. In effect,
if state or federal agencies do not intervene and force its hand, Southern
Co. can easily delay significant wind power production on the Georgia Coast
for a decade or longer.

Georgia Power's strategy of changing the discussion from whether we should
spend $20 billion to $40 billion on the Vogtle expansion (past experience
shows that these things are never are completed within initial estimates --
officially $14 billion now), to when to pay for it side steps the real
question: Is the Vogtle expansion a good idea at all?

The central impact of the Vogtle expansion is that it will preempt the
development of renewable energy in Georgia by sucking up whatever capital is
available for energy development. We must make hard choices. Is nuclear the
right choice? Is a bill rushed through the Legislature, skipping the PSC the
right way to choose?

The entire rationale for state-guaranteed profits for monopoly energy titans
is becoming obsolete. We don't need to give away the store to multi-billion
dollar power plant builders anymore. Georgia Power knows it. But this real
world trend doesn't matter if Georgia Power has its way with the Legislature
and obtains a state-backed commitment to lock-in the costs, interest
payments and huge profits for the construction of Vogtle.

Georgia Power will be the winner if this deal goes through. You and I will
be the losers, with no chance of a reprieve -- for decades to come.

Steve Willis, a resident of Savannah, is president of the board of the
Center For A Sustainable Coast.

___________