Southern Company Breaks Ground on Biomass
Plant
ATLANTA, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
Southern Power, the Southern Company subsidiary that acquires, builds,
manages and owns wholesale generation assets, today took a major step in
building one of the nation's largest biomass-fueled projects with a
groundbreaking ceremony in Sacul, Texas.
"Southern Company continues to develop and deploy smarter and cleaner
energy technologies, including increased energy efficiency, nuclear
power, clean coal and renewables," said David Ratcliffe, Southern
Company chairman, president and CEO. "This project represents another
step in developing a diverse portfolio to meet the nation's growing
energy demands."
"This is an exciting time for Southern Power as we expand our presence
in the wholesale market and diversify our fuel mix with a renewable
resource," said Southern Power President Ronnie Bates. "Southern Power
has a reputation of helping its customers meet their energy needs in
cost-effective, reliable and environmentally responsible manner and
we're pleased to be a partner with Austin Energy on a project that
supports their environmental goals."
Southern Power acquired the 100-megawatt project -- the Nacogdoches
Generating Facility -- from American Renewables, LLC on Oct. 9, noting
at the time that it would move ahead with construction and bring the
plant on line in the summer of 2012. The plant's output is committed to
Austin Energy in a 20-year agreement that will help the city of Austin,
Texas, meet a 30-percent renewable energy goal.
As a Southern Company subsidiary, Southern Power supports the parent
company's commitments to corporate responsibility, which include
generating affordable and reliable electricity and reducing
environmental impact. Southern Company has invested about $6.3 billion
in environmental controls and plans to spend an additional $3.1 billion
through 2011 to further reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur
dioxide and mercury.
The company is committed to finding solutions to environmental issues
that make technological, environmental, and economic sense.
The Nacogdoches plant is one of two Southern Company biomass projects.
The Georgia Public Service Commission in March approved Georgia Power's
application to convert its 96 megawatt Plant Mitchell near Albany, Ga.,
to biomass. Georgia Power is the Atlanta-based Southern Company
subsidiary serving 2.25 million customers in 155 of Georgia's 159
counties.
Southern Company is evaluating the feasibility of converting five
additional coal plants to biomass as well.
Construction of the Nacogdoches facility will take about 32 months and
will generate about 300 construction jobs. Approximately 40 permanent
jobs will be created to operate the plant.
Total cost of the project will be between $475 million and $500 million.
The plant, which will be built on 165 acres, will be fueled with biomass
materials, including forest residue from the surrounding areas, wood
processing residues and clean municipal wood waste. The project will
require approximately 1 million tons of fuel annually, which is planned
to be procured within a 75-mile radius of the project site.
Southern Power is among the largest wholesale energy providers in the
Southeast, meeting the electricity needs of municipalities, electric
cooperatives and investor-owned utilities. The company owns and operates
more than 7,500 megawatts with facilities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia
and North Carolina and has an additional 820 megawatts committed to
construction in North Carolina and Texas.
With 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating
capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company is the premier energy company
serving the Southeast. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern
Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive
generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications.
Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high
reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national
average. Southern Company is consistently listed among the top U.S.
electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Visit our Web site at http://www.southerncompany.com/.
Southern Company
CONTACT: Southern Company Media Relations, +1-404-506-5333
or1-866-506-5333, media@southernco.com
Web Site:
http://www.southerncompany.com/
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