Georgia Power secured approval for its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC). With the final, authorized plan, the firm will be able to continue meeting customers’ energy demands while also supporting the state’s anticipated remarkable growth. The approval by the Georgia PSC comes after the company’s January long-term energy plan was the subject of months of filings, hearings, testimony, and hours of public discussion. Additionally, a stipulated agreement between the company, PSC Public Interest Advocacy (PIA) Staff, and several intervenors was reached last week.
In order to help guarantee that the state can meet future energy demand, make the investments required for the power grid’s resilience and dependability, and maintain energy costs reasonable for consumers, Georgia Power continues to collaborate with all relevant parties to create and implement strategies. Following other major regulatory actions like the 2023 IRP Update, the recently updated and PSC-approved rules and regulations, and a new plan to freeze Georgia Power’s base rates through at least 2028, the approval of the 2025 IRP is the most recent step in this ongoing, positive regulatory process.
“As our state continues to grow and thrive, the approval of this comprehensive plan helps to ensure we have the resources and programs we need to reliably and economically meet the future energy needs of our customers,” stated Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “The IRP is an incredibly complex and detailed process that brings together people from many backgrounds who are vested in our state’s energy future. I’m grateful to everyone who helped develop this plan and participated in the process over the last six months, and to the Georgia PSC for its careful consideration and approval of a strategy that will help us deliver the energy Georgians need and deserve.”
Georgia Power estimates that electrical load will increase by around 8,500 megawatts (MW) during the next six years, which is about 2,600 MW more than the 2023 IRP Update’s predictions for peak demand by the end of 2030. The authorized 2025 IRP details ongoing procedures with the Georgia PSC to track development while this anticipated expansion persists, such as the submission of Large Load Economic Development Reports on a weekly basis and further load prediction updates in the upcoming years.
The authorized 2025 IRP contains demand-side and customer-focused renewable and resiliency initiatives, as well as the investments required in the company’s transmission infrastructure and generating fleet to help guarantee Georgia Power can continue to supply its customers with dependable and resilient electricity. Furthermore, the authorized plan incorporates suitable “reserve margins” for the business, which is a crucial component of the planning process aimed at guaranteeing adequate reserve generation required to provide customers with dependable electric service during times of transient high demand, like exceptionally hot or cold days.
Expansion of a Diverse Energy Mix
Throughout its more than 140-year history, Georgia Power has built, maintained and improved power plants across the state to reliably serve customers and a growing Georgia. The company’s diverse generation mix has evolved to include cleaner and more efficient forms of energy generation as technology has advanced and, as part of the Southern Company system, Georgia Power continues to be an industry leader in the research and development of emerging energy technologies.
With the approval of the 2025 IRP, Georgia Power will continue to invest in existing power plants already in operation today to serve the needs of a growing Georgia more economically and with increased efficiency.
Approved economical extensions and enhancements to existing generating units include:
- Extended power uprates to reliable, emission-free nuclear units. With the completion of the Plant Vogtle expansion last year, Georgia is now home to the largest generator of clean energy in the U.S., and Georgia Power continues to recognize the importance of additional nuclear capacity for Georgia’s energy future. In this IRP, the company received approval to reinvest in Vogtle Units 1 & 2 upgrades to enable those units to deliver an additional 54 MW of carbon-free energy to Georgia Power customers. The company also received approval to proceed with preliminary planning, licensing and engineering for potential future capacity uprates at Hatch Units 1 & 2.
- Extensions and upgrades to existing power plants. The company’s integration of cleaner natural gas – which has helped reduce overall carbon emissions by more than 60% since 2007 – into its fleet continues with the approval of the 2025 IRP. Key elements of the final plan include upgrades at Plant McIntosh near Savannah that would add an additional 268 MW of natural gas capacity, as well as extended operation of certain coal and natural gas units through at least 2034, with additional upgrades and compliance activities planned at multiple facilities. The company has received approval for the continued operation of coal-fired units at Plants Bowen and Scherer, which have served customers reliably for decades with 4,000 MW of generating capacity, and new pursuit of natural gas co-firing at those plants which will aid in continued compliance with federal environmental regulations. The units are among the most advanced coal-fired units in the world and, over time, have added and now operate state-of-the-art technology to reduce the environmental footprint of those facilities, including scrubbers, selective catalytic reduction systems and baghouses. These advancements have resulted in reductions in main air emissions by more than 95% over the past few decades.
- Continued investment to modernize and operate Georgia’s hydro fleet. Georgia Power’s fleet of hydroelectric generating units is another source of emission-free energy, with some units serving the state of Georgia for more than 100 years. The approved 2025 IRP furthers the company’s efforts to modernize its hydro fleet with additional investments and upgrades at the Tallulah, Yonah, Bartlett’s Ferry and North Highlands hydro facilities. Units at these plants have not been previously approved for modernization and these improvements are expected to allow them to operate for at least another 40 years while improving the efficiency and integrity of the hydro fleet and preserving valuable, dispatchable carbon-free resources for the long-term benefit of customers. Additional hydro investments are expected to be submitted in the 2028 IRP.
Growing Renewable Energy
As a part of the approved 2025 IRP, Georgia Power will continue to focus on economical new renewable energy procurements through competitive request for proposal (RFP) processes, which help maintain flexibility amid changing market conditions and enable the company to continue to provide more carbon-free energy to customers. The company’s approved long-term plan highlights the procurement of a total of up to 4,000 MW of renewable resources by 2035 approved in this IRP, with an initial target of 1,100 MW of new renewable resources sought through competitive Utility Scale and Distributed Generation procurements. These new resources would expand the company’s renewable resource portfolio to approximately 11,000 MW by 2035.
Procurement of energy and capacity from new battery energy storage (BESS) projects is also expected to be a part of all-source capacity RFPs, building on the company’s current plans to add more than 1,500 MW of BESS in the coming years (read more).
Enhancing the Power Grid to Increase Reliability and Resiliency
Georgians continue to benefit from a more reliable and resilient power grid, thanks in large part to strategic investments Georgia Power has made over the last decade. In recent years, the company has provided exceptional reliability with fewer and shorter power interruptions (read more), and the state’s growing “smart grid” is showing value for customers by reducing service impacts of severe weather from events like Hurricane Helene and Winter Storm Cora.
A large factor in maintaining reliable electric service every day, as well as during severe weather events, is Georgia Power’s continued investment in the state’s integrated transmission system. The transmission system moves high-voltage energy from generation plants to local distribution power lines to serve customers.
The approval of the 2025 IRP includes a 10-year transmission plan with transmission improvements needed to maintain a strong and reliable transmission system to move energy from new and existing power plants to customers across the state. The 10-year plan includes new transmission resources across more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines, improving the system’s efficiency and resiliency, and providing the energy infrastructure needed for a growing state. Pursuant to the stipulated agreement and as approved by the PSC, the company will meet semi-annually with PIA Staff to provide updates on various projects and will continue to identify and consider alternative solutions for each project, and the associated costs and benefits. Additionally, the company will implement a formal process to evaluate new grid enhancing technologies to help meet increasing grid capacity needs and enable further reliable integration of the state’s growing amount of solar generation and BESS.
Diverse, Customer-Focused Programs
Georgia Power’s portfolio of customer programs is continually evolving to offer innovative options that help customers meet their sustainability and resiliency goals, as well as enhance energy efficiency and provide customers with more control over their energy usage. In addition to investments in transmission and generation systems and other assets, the approved 2025 IRP includes demand-side resources, such as energy efficiency programs and demand response programs, that bring value to the company’s resource mix and improve customers’ overall experience.
Highlights of the approved 2025 IRP include:
- Solutions to meet increasing customer demand for emission-free, sustainable, and resilient energy including a new solar plus storage program for residential and small commercial customers; a new distributed energy resource (DER)-enabled demand response program aimed at meeting the capacity and resiliency needs of large customers; and expanding existing renewable customer subscription programs to facilitate the addition of more renewable resources to meet customer needs. Additionally, the approved 2025 IRP includes a new Electric Transportation “Vehicle to Everything” pilot, which will include a partnership with public school systems to study how underutilized electric vehicle batteries can be used to benefit the grid.
- Increased initiatives for customers in the most need. The final 2025 IRP includes a focus on demand side management offerings specifically for customers in the most need. With the approval of the PSC, the company will continue and expand successful programs including Energy Assistance for Savings and Efficiency (EASE) and HopeWorks, among other adjustments to various customer programs.
- New tools to help customers save money and energy. Georgia Power will further enhance its portfolio of tools for customers with a new online residential energy audit tool, a team of residential energy experts and other technologies that can help customers understand their energy usage and address and alleviate affordability concerns.
