CEO: Georgia Power balancing energy sources given policy uncertainty - Savannah Morning News

With politicians waging war over energy policy, providers such as Georgia Power need to make sure they have several types of arrows in the quiver, company CEO Paul Bowers told the Rotary Clubs of Savannah South and Skidaway Island on Tuesday.

Georgia Powers arrows include electricity generated from nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources as well as energy efficiency initiatives.

When you look at these arrows, you cant pick just one. You have to have them all, Bowers said during a joint meeting of the clubs at the Carey Hilliards Restaurant banquet room. When it comes to energy policy right now, you have to manage your risk.

Such diversity in sources ensures the local power provider will be prepared to adapt to energy policy changes enacted by Congress or regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.

Bowers made it clear he prefers lawmakers, not the regulators, lead the way on energy policy.

But Congress has been punting on energy policy for more than 30 years, dating to the 1979 oil crisis, Bowers said, and even with energy issues such as greenhouse gases and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan bringing the topic to the forefront, there is no clear direction.

That inaction has led to the regulatory agencies pushing expensive changes onto the utility companies, costs that get passed on to customers.

Every day were looking to the future, Bowers said. What gives us pause is policy and politics.

Bowers outlined Georgia Powers approach to broadening its energy sources, including the construction of two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro and a new clean coal plant in Mississippi. The Mississippi project is an initiative of Mississippi Power, like Georgia Power a subsidiary of Southern Company.

The Plant Vogtle reactors will be the first new ones opened in 35 years in the United States. The reactors are designed with safeguards missing from the Fukushima reactors, Bowers said, protections that could withstand a combination of disasters such as the earthquakes and tsunami that happened in March in Japan.

Even when the additional reactors come on line, Georgia Power plans to limit its nuclear power production to 20 percent of its portfolio. Meanwhile, the company is using more natural gas 28 percent up from 12 percent and less coal 70 percent down to 51 percent and is researching and developing new technologies when it comes to clean coal and renewable sources like wind and solar and energy.

Georgia Power is also pushing energy efficiencies with its customers. The company currently employs more than 400 energy auditors who visit customers and recommend ways to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient.

Bowers addressed the $500 million investment Georgia Power is making in updating the local power infrastructure. The companys local market president, Cathy Hill, credited Bowers for pushing the improvements since he took over as Georgia Powers head in January.

The upgrades are vital given Savannahs growth potential, Bowers said.

Savannah is home to the strongest growth in the state with the port, Bowers said. We need to do everything we can to support that growth.