Tag Archives: Plant Vogtle

EU could cut 40% emissions with little cost: and we can, too



If Europe can do it, the U.S. can do it.
And we know

Georgia can get a third of its power from wind,
and even Spain is north of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida,
which have a lot more sun for solar power than anywhere in Europe.
Solar power

is already winning, even in Georgia.
Let’s help it win even faster, plus wind.

PR from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) 16 January 2014,

EU could cut emissions by 40 percent at moderate cost,



The costs of achieving a more ambitious EU climate target are
estimated to be moderate. Upscaling greenhouse-gas emissions
reduction from the current 20 percent by 2020 to 40 percent by 2030
would be likely to cost less than an additional 0.7 percent of
economic activity.

And that apparently doesn’t count the additional economic activity
that would be produced by all those wind and solar deployments,
not to mention related activities like electric cars.
This is actually a pessimistic study, because it doesn’t account
for such likely positive corollaries.


Many options to choose from—wind power could expand sevenfold

Continue reading →

Solar benefits outweigh costs in NC

And the same is true in Georgia, despite Georgia Power and Southern Company.

John Downey wrote for
Charlotte Business Journal 23 October 2013,

Study: Solar benefits outweigh costs in NC



An independent study published by a nationally known energy
consultant asserts that adding 500 megawatts of solar generation in
North Carolina would save utility ratepayers about $26 million
annually.

It notes the gains from solar projects — such as lower
transmission and distribution costs, avoided emissions, lower losses
of electricity in transmission.

The study calculates that such benefits
outweigh the costs by 30 percent to 40 percent.

Update 2017-04-25:
Energy NC seems to have removed or moved its copy of that report,
but fortunately SEIA lists it
on
a backup website, and I’ve linked it into the quotation above, plus a copy on the LAKE website.
SEIA also lists many other studies for other states, such as
one for Virginia which is on the
MDV-SEIA website, and now also has
a copy on the LAKE website.
For Georgia SEIA lists the testimony of GSEIA before the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2013.
For Florida SEIA lists only a very old (2003) study with a broken link,
which can be found as a google book, but now would mostly be worthwhile as a museum piece.
Duke’s own actions in Florida in 2016 and 2017 indicate
Duke Energy knows the sun is rising even on the Sunshine State.

The study considered two intertwined solar methods: Continue reading →

Warren Buffett moves from nuclear to wind



How to get Georgia Power and Southern Company off of

nuclear
and onto offshore wind and onshore solar power: stop approving

Construction Work in Progress (CWIP)
rate hikes for nukes that are already a billion dollars
over budget and more than a year late.
So far Mississippi is doing better about this than Georgia,
by

capping ratepayer and taxpayer costs for Kemper Coal.
Iowa did, and look what happened.

SimplyInfo wrote 23 December 2013,

What Power Companies Do When Nuclear Is No Longer An Easy Option, Continue reading →

Last day to oppose NRC bad nuclear waste plan



Today you can object to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC)
inadequate plan for radioactive waste storage.

Comment through regulations.gov

on Docket #NRC-2012-0246-0456;
here’s

a link to the comment form.

NRC’s web page on

Waste Confidence:

The public comment period on the Waste Confidence Draft Generic
Environmental Impact Statement and proposed rule ends on Friday,
December 20, 2013.

Background from

Beyond Nuclear:

No safe, permanent solution has yet been found anywhere in the
world—and may never be found—for the nuclear waste
problem. In the U.S., the only identified and flawed high-level
radioactive waste deep repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada has
been canceled. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an end to the production
of nuclear waste and for securing the existing reactor waste in
hardened on-site storage.

Facebook event with more information.

Here’s
a petition:

The NRC, by court order, has been required to gather public input
regarding a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) regarding
the storage of nuclear waste that is grossly inadequate and leaves
over 150 million Americans who live within 50 miles of a nuclear
power plant at risk.

The NRC has declared that it would only be a SMALL risk to the
environment and communities near nuclear power plants to store
nuclear waste on-site for 60 years, 160 years or even INDEFINITELY
if no permanent repository is established….



And NRC’s oversight committee is the

Subcommittee on Energy and Power
of the

Energy and Commerce Committee,
which just held a hearing 12 December 2013 on

Oversight of NRC Management and the Need for Legislative Reform.

-jsq

Florida PSC terminates Levy County 1 & 2 nukes, charges Duke customers, settles Crystal River 3



Remember, Georgia,

Georgia Power can continue to charge you for
Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 even after they’re canceled,
just like Duke is doing for Levy County in Florida.
Beware: Duke’s idea of a replacement is

a natural gas plant powered by a 36″ pipeline on a 100′ right of way
gashed through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.



And while Duke customers will get refunds for permanently-closed Crystal River 3,
FL PSC also slid in a new tax:
“promotes community growth through economic development tariffs.”
A tariff is, according to Investopedia:

A tax imposed on imported goods and services. Tariffs are used to
restrict trade, as they increase the price of imported goods and
services, making them more expensive to consumers. They are one of
several tools available to shape trade policy.

Curious how FL PSC redefines restraints on trade as promoting growth.

FL PSC PR of 17 October 2013,

PSC Decides Revised Settlement Agreement for Duke Energy Florida, Inc., Continue reading →

LEDs vs. the entire U.S. nuclear fleet (and gas pipeline)

All U.S. nuclear power reactors could be replaced by LED lighting
with a few clever on-off controls.
More evidence Plant Vogtle is a boondoggle good for nothing but

propping up profits for Georgia Power and Southern Company.

Michael Kanellos wrote for Forbes 28 October 2013,

Can LED Bulbs Make Nuclear Plants Obsolete?

One $7 billion nuclear plant like one of Georgia Power’s 1.2 GW
units would add a little over 1 percent of capacity. The bulb
solution would cost $60 billion, and around $36 billion two years
from now, and require only that consumers know how to screw in a
light bulb. Nuclear would cost $105 billion, probably more, and take
decades.

So maybe it’s not

just weather that’s pushing down your demand, Southern Company:
maybe Continue reading →

Southern Company missed earnings: weather and Kemper Coal and nuclear Plant Vogtle



SO CEO Tom Fanning continued to blame slow sales and earnings on mild
weather (air conditioners running less), but the big boondoggle
going bad is Kemper Coal, which has slipped six months from May 2014 to Q4 2014,
and even the Wall Street Journal calls it “possibly the most expensive fossil-fuel power plant ever built in the U.S”.
How bad will SO’s stock tank when SO’s even more expensive
nuclear Plant Vogtle slips even more?

Dividends can’t prop up SO’s share price forever, not when PSCs are revolting against the rate hikes
and guaranteed profit hikes that prop up those dividends.
When will Southern Company and Georgia Power get out front and lead in solar and wind power?
Before or after the public, state public service commissions, and investors make them do it?

Justin Loiseau wrote for DailyFinance 4 November 2013,

Southern Company Earnings: A $5 Billion Blunder? Continue reading →

Many safety violations at Georgia nukes, and NRC is shut down



Georgia’s two nuclear sites got more than a safety violation a month
over a dozen years, and now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
is shut down.
Maybe we need power sources that don’t need so much safety inspection,
like solar and wind and efficiency and conservation.

AP wrote yesterday,

166 violations issued at Ga. nuclear power plants,

A congressional study expected to be released later this month shows
that two nuclear power plants in Georgia were issued 166 safety
violations between 2000 and 2012.



The unreleased Government Accountability Office report obtained by
the Associated Press shows that Plant Hatch in Baxley was issued 90
safety violations during the time period. According to the report,
three of the violations were higher-level offenses.

According to the report, Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro was also issued
75 safety violations between 2000 and 2012.

Allison Macfarlane wrote on the NRC blog 9 October 2013,

From the Chairman: An Update on the NRC Shutdown, Continue reading →

Fourth extension on Vogtle nuclear loan guarantee deadline

Southern Company doesn’t want to pay $17 to $52 million to get an $8.33 billion
federal loan guarantee.
That’s 0.2% to 0.62%.
Why should we guarantee SO’s bad bet for pennies down?
Let’s just call it off!

Ray Henry wrote for AP yesterday,

Talks continue over Ga. nuclear plant loans,



Three years after the U.S. government promised $8.3 billion in
lending for a nuclear plant in Georgia, Southern Co. and its
partners have not sealed a deal.

President Barack Obama’s administration recently agreed to a fourth
extension of the deadline for finalizing lending agreements between
Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power and the other owners of the
nuclear plant now under construction. Congress authorized the
funding in 2005 to revive a nuclear industry that at the time
expected growth.

Few utilities secured even a preliminary agreement, mostly because
power companies dropped plans to build nuclear plants. The Great
Recession trimmed the demand for energy, and plummeting natural gas
prices made it cheaper to build gas-fired plants. The slumping
economy also pushed interest rates to historic lows, reducing
borrowing costs and undercutting the need for subsidized lending.

All that and

ten nukes have been closed or cancelled in the past year.
Even France’s EDF
has exited nukes in the U.S. and has already built more U.S. solar and wind power
than SO’s new Plant Vogtle nukes would produce.

Southern Company now claims this federal loan guarantee isn’t necessary: Continue reading →

European utilities scared of renewable energy

Another reason

Southern Company needs to get on with a smart grid,
using its

biggest private R&D outfit in the U.S.
Now that

solar has reached grid parity with everything
including

natural gas
(and years since

it passed nuclear), if the utilities
don’t get out in front, they’re going to be left behind.

Derek Mead wrote for Motherboard yesterday,

European Utilities Say They Can’t Make Money Because There’s Too Much Renewable Energy,



Renewable energy has been on a tear the past few years, with growth in many countries spurred by subsidies for
wind and solar power. Now the heads of 10 European utility companies
say EU subsidies should end, because they've got more renewable
energy than they know what to do with.

The 10 CEOs in question, who refer to themselves as the Magritte
group because they first met in an art gallery, represent companies
that control about half the power capacity of Europe. The group gave
a press conference today—

Reuters says that 10 such executives
giving a joint public statement is “unprecedented”—to hammer
home a message they’ve been trumpeting ahead of an EU energy summit
in 2014: There’s too much energy capacity, which has driven prices
down so far that they can’t make any money.



As long as there are nukes or coal plants, there’s too much capacity.
European utilities need to get on with things like Continue reading →