Georgia Power: Nuclear plant expansion over budget
Feb 28, 2013
-
Dave
Williams - Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
The first American nuclear power plant project in more than two decades is $381 million over budget and a year behind schedule, officials with Georgia Power Co. announced Thursday.
In documents filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission, the Atlanta-based unit of Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) for the first time asked for approval of expenses incurred in the construction of two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta beyond estimates the PSC certified when it approved the project.
Georgia Power’s share of the project’s $14 billion price tag is $6.1 billion.
Click here for a slideshow of the construction at Plant Vogtle.
Thursday’s filing also moved the planned completion of the first new reactor to the fourth quarter of 2017, one year later than the original schedule. Under the new timetable, the second reactor wouldn’t go into service until late in 2018.
Critics, including environmental and consumer advocates, have been predicting for months that the project was suffering delays and cost overruns that would run up the cost to ratepayers. Under legislation the General Assembly passed in 2009, Georgia Power has been recovering financing costs from monthly customer bills since 2011.
But the company’s analysis continues to show that adding more nuclear energy to Georgia Power’s portfolio would be a better deal for customers by $4 billion over the life of the plant than any other available energy source, said Buzz Miller, Georgia Power’s executive vice president for nuclear development.
“We have a very good project for our goals of building it right with quality and compliance ,” he said.
The first American nuclear power plant project in more than two decades is $381 million over budget and a year behind schedule, officials with Georgia Power Co. announced Thursday.
In documents filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission, the Atlanta-based unit of Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) for the first time asked for approval of expenses incurred in the construction of two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta beyond estimates the PSC certified when it approved the project.
Georgia Power’s share of the project’s $14 billion price tag is $6.1 billion.
Click here for a slideshow of the construction at Plant Vogtle.
Thursday’s filing also moved the planned completion of the first new reactor to the fourth quarter of 2017, one year later than the original schedule. Under the new timetable, the second reactor wouldn’t go into service until late in 2018.
Critics, including environmental and consumer advocates, have been predicting for months that the project was suffering delays and cost overruns that would run up the cost to ratepayers. Under legislation the General Assembly passed in 2009, Georgia Power has been recovering financing costs from monthly customer bills since 2011.
But the company’s analysis continues to show that adding more nuclear energy to Georgia Power’s portfolio would be a better deal for customers by $4 billion over the life of the plant than any other available energy source, said Buzz Miller, Georgia Power’s executive vice president for nuclear development.
“We have a very good project for our goals of building it right with quality and compliance ,” he said.
© 2013 American City Business Journals. All rights reserved.