Electric utility Georgia Power and tech giant Google said the companies have an agreement under which Google will support power uprates at two of the utility’s nuclear power plants. The groups on September 21 said the moves would add some 96 MW of power generation capacity to Georgia’s power grid.
The deal, which must be approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), involves extended power uprates for units at Plant Vogtle and Plant Hatch that are owned by Georgia Power. The utility filed documents Monday with the state PSC that include a new nuclear uprate tariff structure, along with a request to approve an extended power uprate (EPU) for Units 1 and 2 at Hatch, located in Baxley about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta. An EPU for Units 1 and 2 at Vogtle, located near Waynesboro, just more than 150 miles east of Atlanta, was approved by the PSC as part of Georgia Power’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan. The utility on Monday said the deal could generate about $900 million in benefits for its customers over the life of the units.
Google, under a subscription-based program, will subscribe to the new NU-1 tariff and receive zero-emission credits, which represent the carbon-free attributes of nuclear energy associated with the power generated by the nuclear unit uprates.
“Many of our large customers have specific clean energy goals, and we continue to work with the Georgia PSC to create programs that not only help them meet their goals, but align with our Customer Protection Pledge, enhancing the reliability and resiliency of the power grid and creating savings for all customers,” said Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president of Strategic Growth for Georgia Power. “We appreciate Google’s continued leadership in this space and partnership in developing this program, which we see as the latest example of how large-load growth can benefit all electric customers.”
“Google data centers are long-term investments in the communities we call home, catalyzing local economic development and accelerating clean energy deployment. They also serve as a proof point for how we can unlock the significant opportunity to bring online new nuclear power through expanding the capacity of the existing nuclear fleet,” said Lucia Tian, director, Advanced Energy Technologies, at Google. “This collaboration with Georgia Power ensures that digital infrastructure growth goes hand-in-hand with positive local impact, helping to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in direct customer benefits and supporting a more affordable, clean, and reliable energy system for all Georgia residents.”
The utility said that EPUs increase the electrical output of nuclear power generating units through modifications to equipment such as turbines, pumps, motors, and cooling systems. The work enables nuclear reactors to operate at higher licensed thermal power levels, producing additional heat that increases steam flow to the turbine generator. The unit then generates more electricity while continuing to utilize the existing reactor fuel design and plant infrastructure.
Georgia Power, which serves 2.8-million customers in Georgia, said that Hatch and Vogtle provide about a quarter of the electricity used in the state. The plants are managed by Southern Nuclear, a sister company owned by Southern Co. that specializes in nuclear operations.
Google earlier in September signed its first international nuclear deal, a $15.1-billion agreement with Fortum, a Finland-based utility. The company said it would buy up to 50% of the electricity from the Loviisa nuclear plant over a 22-year period to support at least three data centers in Finland.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
