Tag Archives: Coal

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle and move to wind and solar power –Courtney Hanson @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle, especially its water use,
and move to efficiency, wind, and solar power instead,
said


Courtney Hanson of
Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND)
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She reminded GA PSC Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are late and over budget, and then:

I want to add my voice to the chorus of folks here who are concerned
about water issues.


We know that Vogtle 3 and 4 will require an additional withdrawal
of as much as 74 million gallons a day from the Savannah River and
most of that water will not be returned.
We know that the central Savannah River
area where Vogtle is located is already
very prone to droughts
and the plant has been close to shutting down several times
due to drought conditions.


Georgia is also already struggling to supply enough water
for our homes, businesses, industries, and farms.

In addition, the Savannah River is Continue reading →

It is not enough to add a little solar and wind on top of fossil and fission fuels –a German @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A German national residing in Georgia
asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation
while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of
fossil fuels and nuclear,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change,
and we need to do something about it.



I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something,
some matter of fact.
A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means
consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity,
and so on.
Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out.
For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is
no longer acceptable.
We need drastic changes in our energy supply.
We need to use less.



Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s
parent company Southern Company

reemphasized yet again that

To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.

Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude,
as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading →

More solar, less nuke cost overruns –Glenn Carroll @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC
to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power
to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states,
plus efficiency and conservation,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She
said
they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle,
which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement,
costs, etc.
She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch,
and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)
for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.



The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power
is being isolated.
It is protected financially of course because of the small business
and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that
they are taking.
We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.

She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at
Port Angeles, presumably

the one in Washington State.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Increased investment in demand-side reduction –a homebuilder @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Paul[?] Matthews said he’s been green since before it was cool,
first in an earlier Georgia Power program (EarthCraft), and now in EarthCents.
He thinks the program is good, with both environmental and
economic benefits, but he asked for it to be extended to become
a model for the south,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He spoke about his company’s investment in sustainable
efficiency and conservation, and asked GA PSC and Georgia Power
to also do more.

A much more efficient way and cost-effective of reducing power is by
reducing energy used. We’re not only looking at tripling the savings
over the next ten years, but we’re also looking at job growth….

…a sustainable and long-term growth approach.

Let’s make the rebates and also the tax credits so they’re a model
for Georgia and also for the south.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

EarthCents has taken a lot of power bill mystery away –a contractor @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A contractor who does homeowner education as part of Georgia Power’s
Earth Cents program praised that program
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He said homeowners tend to complain about power bills:

And this Earth Cents program has, in my experience, taken a lot of that
mystery away.
The homeowners that I touch and I deal with come away with an understanding
that leaves them less concerned about the rate hikes that I’m sure
keep you guys up at night when it comes to a vote and more concerned
about where the money is actually going.

I’m guessing he means homeowners are more concerned about what
Georgia Power is using to generate the power.


Earth Cents, according to Southern Company:

Introduced in 2008, EarthCents energy efficiency programs help our
customers save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gases.
EarthCents comprises a set of standing and new programs—and
educational efforts—to reduce residential and commercial
electricity consumption.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Does SO have a business model for energy conservation? –Dan Everett @ SO 2013-05-22

SO has done a lot about energy efficiency, but can it do more,
and how will it profit by doing so?
Prof. Dan Everett asked this
at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting.


Prof. Dan Everett speaking

I have Mr. Dan Everett from Athens, Georgia, and he holds 11 shares of
Southern Company.

TF: Talked to Dan earlier today. Dan is a professor at the University of
Georgia, right?

DE: Right.


Dan Everett striding to the microphone
He’s
Daniel M. Everett,
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, UGA Athens.
The SO Annual Stockholders Meeting apparently doesn’t get many professors.

TF: Fantastic. Well, welcome.

DE: Oh, thank you very much. And as a guy who has some professional
interest in this stuff, I totally applaud the research that y’all
are doing on energy technologies and renewable
energies and efficiency technologies because it does take a while to
deploy those.

My specific question is about energy conservation.
I’ve noticed Continue reading →

Georgia Power still too slow on solar in 20 year plan: PSC decides soon

Georgia Power tries to continue whistling in the fossil and nuclear fuel
dark while distributed solar power changes the world around it.
The Georgia Public Service Commission can decide differently,
and will decide next week, 11 July 2013.



Joshua Stewart
wrote 2 July 2013,

Decision Looms On Georgia Power Plan,

The state Public Service Commission votes next week on Georgia
Power’s 20-year plan, the road map for providing electricity to 2.4
million customers. That includes the mix of fuels the company will
use and the efforts the company undertakes to get customers to use
less energy. This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia
Power also wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating
units at six power plants.

This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia Power also
wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating units at six
power plants.

PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said at a
hearing in April that this version of Georgia Power’s plan “is
filled with the most-significant issues” of any Integrated Resources
Plan in the last decade.

And Georgia Power avoids actually facing many of those issues:

Continue reading →

Coal and natural gas cost effective vs. energy efficiency, wind, and solar power? –Stephanie Coffin @ SO 2013-05-22

SO CEO Tom Fanning is a true believer in “all of the above”,
yet a skeptic about natural gas.
However, he really doesn’t have much faith in renewables,
as he indicated at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
and even more strongly in the Wall Street Journal.


retirees and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary --Stephanie Coffin
This question is from Stephanie Coffin of Atlanta, Georgia, and she
holds 18 shares of stock.

TF:
Hello, Stephanie.

SC:
How are you, Tom?

TF:
Dynamite. How are you?


your income --Stephanie Coffin
SC:
Last year, I came to this meeting to ask a question and to listen to
the Southern Company reports. And so before I came I got to thinking
about what has changed since the last meeting. I think two things,
and then I’ll ask my question.

The first is the chairperson’s salary
increased 34 percent, over $13 million a year. I’m sure the retirees
and stockholders in the room wonder about the $13 million salary and
see that as negative PR in the face of continuing recession. $13
million a year, most of us are on fixed income. I mean, your income

My income --Stephanie Coffin
is fixed, too, but it’s very high. Mine is pretty low and we all
have to pay electric bills.

The second change, and then I’ll ask my
question, is that now 70 — 97 percent of all scientists
believe that climate change — that is, global warming —
is real and caused by human activity and this is a big shift. Last
year we were the climate deniers, we’re in control, and now 97
percent of all scientists say it’s real, it’s coming, you better get
ready.
In the face of this scientific consensus the Southern Company
has maintained its reliance on fossil fuels, mountaintop coal, old
coal plants and pushing nuclear power with huge wattage demands and
the dangers of nuclear wastes.

While I applaud the Southern
Company’s baby steps Continue reading →

More cost overruns at Southern Company’s Kemper Coal in Mississippi

Why all these overruns?
All sorts of excuses about everything but
bad management and it was a bad idea in the first place.
Does anybody believe this coal plant will be completed anywhere near on time?
Why not stop wasting money on it and invest in solar and wind instead?



Only a few months after

the last cost overruns,
Jeff Amy wrote for AP 2 July 2013,

Miss. Power: More overruns at Kemper power plant:
$4.45B price tag latest estimate,

The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. told stockholders on Monday
that an ongoing review of costs at the coal-fired plant initially
has identified at least another $160 million in cost increases.

Mississippi Power spokeswoman Amoi Geter said Southern Co.
shareholders would absorb any cost increases. The parent company was
hit with $540 million in charges in April, although the after-tax
cost to shareholders was lower. In a January settlement with
Mississippi regulators, the company agreed to shield customers from
further cost increases.

The overruns could push the cost of the plant, adjoining lignite
mine and associated pipelines to $4.45 billion. That’s more than
$1.1 billion above original estimates.

It’s only supposed to produce 582 megawatts if ever completed.
SO could have already built far more solar and wind power
for that $4.45 billion, on time and on budget.

Why is

Plant Ratcliffe Kemper IGCC so late and so expensive?

Continue reading →

Why are you gambling on nuclear instead of solar? –Gloria Tatum @ SO 2013-05-22

Why is SO gambling our health and dollars on Plant Vogtle
when Georgia Power could be getting on with solar power?
SO CEO Tom Fanning avoided the first part of Gloria Tatum’s question
by simply denying it, and danced around the second part by saying
the rate hike for Plant Vogtle’s cost overruns would only be
6 to 8 percent, not 12 percent.
Do you want to pay 6 or 8 percent more for a radioactive white elephant
when you could be getting power from the sun for less?

The floor person at the

22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder Meeting
introduced Gloria Tatum with 164 shares, representing Nuclear
Watch South, and the SO CEO insisted

TF: Call me Tom. Gee whiz.


Gloria Tatum
GT: Tom. Hi,Tom. It’s great to be here on this beautiful day.

TF: Thank you. Yes ma’am.

GT: And I know Southern Company’s done many wonderful things, but I want
to point out a few things to you today.

First, you know, after the
Fukushima meltdown, TEPCO’s $50 billion nuclear complex became a
worthless liability. The deadly radiation still circles the planet,
polluting the earth and increasing cancer. Other countries have
abandoned their nuclear and they’re looking to renewable, but
Southern Company’s affiliate, Georgia Power, continues construction
on two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Now Shell Bluff is a
community down the stream from Plant Vogtle and it has experienced a
25 percent increase in cancer since Vogtle 1 and 2 have been built.

Another problem with Vogtle Continue reading →