GPSC’s Wise: Nuclear key part of energy mix
Stan Wise, the longest-serving commissioner on the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC), recently said that Georgia has benefited from the vital role that nuclear generation has played in its energy mix, and that nuclear energy’s importance will continue for years to come.
“I just think it’s part of how this nation is going to need to express its desire for clean, efficient generation if you recognize that you just can’t get there with 100 percent renewables and natural gas,” Wise, who has served on the GPSC since 1995, said in a recent interview with Daily Energy Insider.
Wise added that when he first joined the GPSC, the nation was in an era of declining costs, with some of the rate cases decided by the commission at that time resulting in lower rates and ratepayer refunds.
“It was extraordinary what we were dealing with and is very much different from what we are dealing with today,” Wise said.
One issue at the forefront of how the commission plans for electricity regulation is the potential implementation of the federal Clean Power Plan (CPP), which aims to reduce carbon pollution from power plants.
The U.S. Supreme Court stayed implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan pending judicial review and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments on the plan in September. Twenty-seven states are challenging the rule, including Georgia.
“Even if CPP is disallowed, I still see the trend of decommissioning some of our coal fleet and increased pressure on ratepayers by having the one fuel source, not only in our state but in all the other states,” Wise said.
Nuclear generation has played an important role in contributing to the fuel diversity in Georgia.
Georgia’s four existing nuclear reactor units accounted for 26 percent of the state’s net electricity generation in 2015, while coal accounted for 29 percent, natural gas accounted for 39 percent and renewable energy contributed 6 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
States can use new nuclear generation to help meet their Clean Power Plan goals, and the EPA has given Georgia credit for the future nuclear generation that will come from two nuclear reactors now under construction. The two new nuclear reactors under construction at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia are the first new nuclear units being built in the United States in the last three decades.
Georgia Power owns 45.7 percent of Plant Vogtle. Other owners include Oglethorpe Power Corp. with 30 percent, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia at 22.7 percent and Dalton Utilities at 1.6 percent.
The commission approved the construction of the new Plant Vogtle reactors in 2009. The plants are now expected to be in service in 2019 and 2020, but the project has been burdened by years of delays in its construction schedule and millions of dollars in cost overruns.
“It is a sword that hangs over the company and our state and our contractors and the commission,” Wise said. “It is something that we continue to fret about and pay very close attention to.”
The GPSC is currently reviewing the budgets and the impact of the schedule delays on residential ratepayers’ bills for a potential settlement. Georgia Power has by law been allowed to charge ratepayers in advance for financing costs of the new reactors.
“If the commission and the company do reach an agreement, then what happens is the commission will have a series of hearings, the staff will put up witnesses and interveners will be able to review the potential settlements with full rights,” Wise said.
Ratepayers have already absorbed 4.4 percent of the total rate increase associated with the construction of the plants.
“We now believe the total will be less than 8 percent, even with the construction delays and budgetary concerns that we have,” Wise said.
Originally certified assuming a 12 percent increase in customer rates, Georgia Power said that the overall impact on rates has declined due to nuclear fuel savings and a drop in interest rates.
“We’re pretty pleased to know that by the time we do turn-on dates for Vogtle 3 and 4, that most of the rate impact will already be placed in the rates, and then customers will receive the benefit of clean, safe nuclear power for probably upwards of the next 80 years,” Wise said.
Georgia also plans to continue adding to its fleet of renewables. Unlike 29 other states, Georgia has not adopted a renewable portfolio standard, but it continues to add to its solar portfolio.
The GPSC approved a revised Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan in July that will include an additional 1,600 megawatts of renewable energy by 2021. Georgia installed 248 megawatts of solar electric capacity in 2015, ranking it sixth nationally, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
“We’ll have at the end of another 3-4 years, probably the largest increase in renewables in the country that was not mandated by a renewable portfolio standard,” Wise said.
