Georgia Power Seeks Approval for Coal Plant Conversion to Biomass

August 25, 2008 | 6 Comments

Georgia Power has asked the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) for approval to convert coal-fueled Plant Mitchell to renewable wood biomass. Upon conversion, Plant Mitchell would be capable of producing 96 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy.

The plant would have lower emissions, and would be one of the largest wood biomass plants in the United States. It would also have lower fuel and operating costs when compared to continued operation using coal, thereby making the plant more cost-effective for customers. If the conversion is approved by the Georgia PSC, wood fuel for Plant Mitchell would come from suppliers operating within an approximately 100-mile radius of the plant.

"Georgia Power is taking an important step toward continued diversification of its fuel sources and making renewable energy more affordable for customers," said Mike Garrett, Georgia Power president and CEO. "By converting Plant Mitchell to biomass, we hope to not only help grow the renewable resource base in Georgia but also to expand the market for renewable energy credits, which ultimately will foster additional renewable energy development."

6 Comments

Glenn Cook
August 27, 2008

Good Move. Local power company at least looking like they want to play the "green" (er) game.

Fred Linn
August 27, 2008

BTW---ashes from wood or hemp burning make excellent natural fertilizer, unlike coal cinders and ash.

Mix it with water and spray it on.

Fred Linn
August 27, 2008

Then use ethanol to power the trucks, or biodiesel. No law says they have to run on petroleum. Not enough biodiesel? Then make more, and in the meantime, you can mix bio and petro diesel in any proportion.

When new trucks are purchased, get flex fuel trucks.

There is a plant being constructed at Soperton GA by Range Fuels that will be producing 100 million gallons per year of ethanol from wood logging and millwork waste. It would be a lot cheaper to use ethanol made in Georgia than import petroleum from Saudi Arabia or Iraq.

willstedt heikki
August 27, 2008

The amount of biomass needed to power the 96 MW must be huge. It would be interesting to see the CO2 life cycle analysis of the plant when you include the emissions from the trucks transporting the biomass to it from 100 miles away . I suspect that although the emissions will be less than when it was a coal plant they will not look too good. Biomass plants of this size donÂ´t really make sense from a sustainability point of view, too much gas is needed to transport the biomass. Smaller, 1-2 MW, and more distributed plants make more sense and make the electrical system less dependent on one production point an reducing transmission losses.

Roger R. Schill
August 25, 2008

The woody stock of Industrial Hemp would be a great product for Georgia Power to use in supplementing their farmed pine.

Michael Sanders
August 25, 2008

Interesting..... Georgia Power, a Southern Company division, does nothing out of the goodness of its heart. Which may be positive in that this project may be sustainable, profitable and a break for consumers. Georgia has a surplus of farmed pine and this is hurting the traditional small tree farmers. It has been driving some of them to more intensives forms of development. A new market will help keep trees and not suburbs on the land.