\n\n<\/a>\nGeorgia Power president and CEO Paul Bowers visited Valdosta late last\nweek to talk nuclear energy, solar and what the company has been doing\nto cut energy costs for their customers.\n<\/blockquote>\nYet another dignitary visits without telling the public first.\n
\nAnyway, much of the story is about how cost-effective and safe\n\n\nBowers says nuclear is.\nIf it’s really so safe, why did\n\nVogtle 1 shut down for four days in August,<\/a>\nonly two days after an NRC meeting\n“to discuss Plant Vogtle\u2019s annual safety evaluation and assessment”?\nThat would be the same NRC that keeps extending “safe” lifetimes of\nVogtle and Hatch, which are past their original intended lifetimes.\n
\nPlant Hatch,\nwhich in September was discovered to be leaking\nradioactive tritium into the groundwater about 90 miles from here.\nInto the same aquifer we drink out of.\nNot to worry:\nBowers told the Savannah South Rotary it’s not a problem.<\/a>\nFunny how he doesn’t seem to have mentioned it here.\n
\nBack to Bowers in Valdosta:\n
\nIn an effort to diversify their portfolio and meet customer’s demands\nfor alternative energy, solar is still an option. Bowers believes the\ntechnology will be cost-effective in the next few years, but right now\nit’s at 15-17 cents per kilowatt hour.\n<\/blockquote>\nWell, it’s an option because the GA PSC has required\n\ngapower to buy 50 MW solar by 2015<\/a>\nAnd the price Bowers mentions is what they required gapower to pay,\nin order to stimulate the solar market.\n\nMore dilly-dallying:\n
\n“It’s coming down,” said Bowers. “The big debate is whether\ncustomers are willing to subsidy to bridge to the technology. It’s\nstill not as competitive to the normal generation of gas, but we’ll\ncontinue to see the cost per unit go down. They’re going to be able\nto compete for a slice of that generation, bid in and be competitive\nand we’ll select them.”\n<\/blockquote>\nMaybe this is what the CEO of gapower’s parent company, the Southern Company\nmeant when he,\n\nThomas Fanning, said he was “bullish” on solar:<\/a>\nsome day they’ll get around to doing something about it.\n\nIf Georgia Power or the Southern Company spent $14 billion on solar\ninstead of on nuclear, I wonder if that might speed up the price drop\nin solar?\nMeanwhile,\n\n
<\/a>\n\nsolar has Moore’s Law going for it<\/a>,\nwith prices continually decreasing over time per watt generated.\nNuclear does not.\nIn North Carolina, solar already became less expensive than nuclear\nlast year.<\/a>\nThat’s when you take construction costs into account, not just operating costs.\n
\nMore from gapower’s Bowers:\n
\n“The government is stimulating for renewables to give them a running\nchance but, when you remove them, the question is can they run on their\nown two feet?” said Bowers.\n<\/blockquote>\nVery amusing for a company that got the Georgia PSC to say\n\nit could pass all cost overruns for Vogtle plant construction over to its customers<\/a>\nso gapower could get a guaranteed profit.\nFor a company that already raised its customers rates to subsidize those\nplants even before they’re constructed.\nGiven that most Georgians get their electricity from Georgia Power,\nI’d call that a tax by another name.\n