The airport outside Waynesboro was probably pretty busy the other day. Leaders from across the state and the country traveled to Burke County to celebrate the many years, and dollars, that went into opening the first new nuclear power units in decades. Plant Vogtle will now be producing more than 30 million megawatt hours of electricity each year – enough power for approximately 25 percent of the state. Including Plant Hatch in Baxley, somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of the state’s population now receives electricity from nuclear power.
“This is history being made right before our very eyes,” Governor Brian Kemp said to a standing-room crowd of dignitaries, company executives, customers and plant workers. “Vogtle 3 and 4 doesn’t just represent an incredible economic asset for our state and a milestone for our entire country, they also stand as physical examples of something that I remind myself of every day: Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”
Southern Company notes that nuclear energy is the only zero-carbon emission baseload energy source on the market today. That word “baseload” is critical – nuclear energy runs around the clock and offers enough power for a foundation load, as opposed to “peak load” when other plants are brought online to fill gaps. Peak times in Georgia are typically in the summer months in the afternoons. Customers use the most electricity at this time, running those air conditioners on full.
“Southern Company and Waynesboro have led the way here,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who traveled from Washington D.C. to be part of the occasion along with Ali Zaidi, the White House’s national climate advisor. “Years of persistence got us to this moment. The road hasn’t been easy, but the good times and the hard times are a down payment on 80 years of 24/7 clean power.”
In addition to the Governor and Secretary, former Secretaries of Energy Ernie Moniz and Dan Brouillette were also on hand, as well as U.S. Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA 12). As Secretary Granholm noted in her remarks, the opening also means another economic development tool for Georgia, as many companies look to lower their carbon footprint and run on clean energy. Additionally, there is a low chance of events like brown-outs, periods of intermittent power reliability that have been seen with some frequency in states like California and Texas.
“Plants like this are economic magnets, because clean 24/7 power is now irresistible to companies looking to build big manufacturing facilities, big data centers and those facilities mean even more jobs and even greater opportunities and that means an influx of tax dollars,” Secretary Granholm said.
Chris Smith, the chief project implementation officer for Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, pointed to that fact specifically as one of the major factors that led to the company’s decision to locate in southeast Georgia.
“Ultimately, we selected Georgia and Bryan County because the state’s clean energy goals aligned with our goals,” Smith said. “It makes us proud to be part of this historic moment and to be part of Georgia’s clean energy history.”
