Here’s
Southern Company’s own video
of the
22 May 2013 shareholders meeting.
More detail will follow on the record number of questions,
and CEO Tom Fanning’s answers, in addition to this one already posted.
-jsq
Category Archives: Coal
Profits also link Vogtle nukes and Kemper coal
Southern Company gets substantial profits from utility customers paying in advance
for “clean coal” in Kemper County, MS and for new nukes at Plant Vogtle
on the Savannah River in Georgia.
As long as SO can keep raking in those profits, it has incentive
not to get on with distributed solar power.
Kristi E. Swartz wrote for the AJC 27 July 2011,
Southern Co.’s profits up on nuke finance fees,
A fee added to Georgia Power bills to help finance a planned nuclear
plant expansion also helped parent Southern Co. post an 18 percent
profit gain in the second quarter.The $3.73 monthly fee offsets financing costs for two proposed
nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.Atlanta-based Southern cited it as one of the factors lifting net
income to $603.3 million, or 71 cents a share, in the April-June
quarter compared with $510.2 million, or 62 cents a share a year
earlier. Profits were also helped by a hot early summer, the company
said.
Back then SO CEO Tom Fanning said,
“The whole issue is to preserve schedule and costs,” Fanning said.
Kemper Coal: SO’s bitter pill @ SO 2013-05-22
“Corporate responsiblity,” answered Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning
to questions about Kemper Coal from Linda St. Martin of Mississippians
For Affordable Energy.
I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means.
Ray Henry wrote for AP yesterday,
Southern Co. CEO defends Miss. power project,
Georgia missing out on solar jobs behind New Jersey and Michigan
Other states, even New Jersey and far-north Michigan,
are beating Georgia to solar jobs.
Why isn’t sunny Georgia leading in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country that is deploying rural jobs everywhere else?
Hint: who’s
holding a shareholder meeting this month?
Carin Hall wrote for energydigital 13 May 2013,
Solar Jobs Outnumber Texas Ranchers and US Coal Miners:
New statistics show that solar is one of the fastest growing industries in the US, creating thousands of jobs across the country
There are now more solar energy workers in the state of Texas than
there are ranchers, according to solar research group The Solar
Foundation.The group’s data mapping out solar jobs across the nation also
showed that there are more solar jobs in California than actors, and
more solar workers than coal miners nationwide. Sunny states like
California and Arizona topped the list. Wyoming came in last, with
just 50 workers, while Utah showed a mere 290 solar workers despite
being one of the country’s sunniest states.Even the states with less sunshine like New Jersey and Michigan
showed a high number of solar jobs—thanks to favorable tax and
regulatory policies that help attract developers to cope with high
electricity prices.
New Jersey is #9 and Michigan is #15 according to
The Solar Foundation’s map of State Solar Jobs.
Where’s Georgia?
Number 41 in solar jobs per capita.
Yet Michigan is #47 by maximum solar resource and New Jersey is #36,
while Georgia is #18: much sunnier than those northern states.
Why is Georgia so far behind?
LEGAL STATUS OF THIRD-PARTY OWNERSHIP: NOT ALLOWED
Because of Continue reading
Dear SO: Time to move beyond coal –Sierra Club
You can to talk to Southern Company
even if you can’t come to SO’s
annual stockholder meeting 22 May at Callaway Gardens.
Sierra Club helps you to ask SO CEO Thomas A. Fanning questions; maybe
about SO’s nuclear financial and safety performance,
or
why SO is already losing on its “clean coal” bet in Mississippi,
or
when SO might get serious about distributed solar power,
or
when SO will help Georgia join the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium,
or….
So many possible questions, and you don’t even have to go to ask them!
Sierra Club message to Southern Company,
Tell Southern Company to Move Beyond Coal,
On May 22, Southern Company will host its annual shareholder meeting
in Georgia, giving us a great opportunity to push them forward on
clean energy.
Southern Company has taken steps to grow clean energy in the
Southeast — Alabama Power and Georgia Power both invested in
wind energy and Georgia power increased solar energy investments
— but they can do a lot more.Southern Company still provides some of the dirtiest, most
unreliable, dangerous, and expensive power in the country. And its
subsidiaries continue to place “Big Bets” on dirty coal electricity
that poisons the health of our communities’ water, air, and
families. Georgia is even home to the biggest emitter of carbon
pollution in the nation, Scherer Plant in Juliette.Send a message to Southern Company’s CEO Tom Fanning to thanking him
for clean energy investments, and demand that Southern Company clean
up its act and invest in job creating clean energy.
Follow the link to send a message.
-jsq
The Super Bowl of disruptive distributed energy: Georgia Power and Southern Company are losing
It’s literally game-changing time with solar power at the electric utilities,
while Georgia Power and Southern Company are sticking with big baseload
nuclear, “clean coal”, and natural gas.
They cannot win if they don’t even try.
Steven Schultz wrote for Physorg 6 May 2013,
Growth of ‘distributed’ electricity generation could transform
utility systems,
(Phys.org) —The U.S. electric utility industry faces a
critical juncture as new technology and declining prices allow a
more “distributed” system of small-scale generators, renewable
energy installations and energy-efficiency strategies, according to
a group of high-level energy industry executives and regulators who
met at Princeton University recently.“We have a monumental challenge,” said Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who participated in the
all-day meeting Friday, April 26. Citing commentary by an analyst
who warned of a potential “train wreck” in the industry, Wellinghoff
outlined converging tends in which technological advances are
allowing consumers and companies to take matters of reliability,
security and efficiency into their own hands, while utility
companies are under pressure to maintain and upgrade a national
electricity system that is broadly accessible.“Everybody saw the Super Bowl,” Wellinghoff said, referring to the
half-hour blackout that disrupted the 2013 football championship.
He didn’t mention that after blacking out the Super Bowl Continue reading
Your jaw will drop with astonishment at how fast solar power will beat every other energy source –a stock trader
A stock trader looked for causes of solar stock price rises
and considered the effects of solar PV price drops,
and realized solar power is going to
beat every other energy source so fast that it
“will make your jaw drop with astonishment.”
Michael Sankowski wrote for Business Insider 3 May 2013,
Solar Is Going To Change The World Much Faster Than Anyone Expects,
6% year is a fantastic rate of decreases, but 20% is simply
astonishing. 20% is an impressive number, but putting it into
context will make your jaw drop with astonishment.My calculations show that if solar maintains 5 more years at current
23% rates per year price drops, solar power will be cheaper than
using existing coal plants. That’s right — it will be cheaper
to build new solar plants than to use existing coal plants. It
sounds absolutely crazy.
First he discovers the effects of no fuel for solar in Continue reading
Bloomberg links MS Kemper Coal cost overruns to GA Plant Vogtle nukes
Bloomberg has
video of Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning trying to explain away
how cost overruns at SO’s nuclear Plant Vogtle in Georgia are
linked to cost overruns SO’s coal Plant Kemper in Mississippi.
Betty Liu: This project along with the Vogtle project…
has some investors wondering maybe Southern Company has
stretched itself too thin, with these two major projects you’ve got under way….Fanning: In fact, the Vogtle project is going beautifully.
We have delayed the in-service date by a year, but….
That’s funny, GA PSC and the AJC say Continue reading
Poor Southern Company: losing money on Kemper Coal in Mississippi
Apparently $1.88 billion wasn’t enough for
Southern Company to charge the ratepayers
of Mississippi Power enough for their “clean coal” plant.
“Escalating costs”: kind of like
SO’s new nukes at Plant Vogtle?
Southern Company CEO Fanning says “I know people will try and link
those, but they are not at all even similar.”
What do you think?
Kristi Swartz wrote for the AJC 24 April 2103,
Miss. power plant costs hurt Southern Co. profit,
Nuke and gas rate hike scam in Toronto, too
It’s not just Georgia Power that
raised rates to pay for nuclear and natural gas plants and then complained about solar.
Ontario has the same scam.
John Spears wrote for the Toronto Star yesterday,
Mad about your hydro bill? Blame nuclear and gas plants:
Payments to nuclear and gas-fired generators are the main ingredients in the largest component on Ontario hydro bills Continue reading