Biomass Plant May Come to Eastern Georgia

A power corporation says its closer to pursuing construction of a biomass power plant in eastern Georgia.

Oglethorpe Power says it's buying property in Warren County for a proposed biomass plant. The $400 million plant would use wood chips, chipped pulpwood and wood from sawmills and timber clearings. Timber is a plentiful resource in Georgia.

The plant would power up to 60,000 homes.

"We're very excited to be able to seriously move toward putting renewable energy into the ground and generating some power for the state of Georgia in the process," says Greg Jones, a spokesman for Oglethorpe Power.

The corporation hopes to build a total of two or three plants in Georgia, each with about 40 jobs. The plants would generate hundreds of secondary jobs, says Jones.

Oglethorpe Power hopes the plants will go online in 2014 and 2015, pending approval from government agencies.

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Electricity Restoration Work Continues

Electricity is slowly being restored to customers across the state affected by the weekend’s winter weather.

A Georgia Power spokesperson says as of early this afternoon, it was down to around 25,000 customers still without electricity. The outages remain concentrated in the northeast Georgia region.

The Georgia Electric Membership Corporation says it has a little more than 20,000 customers still without power, down from 29,000 earlier this morning. Georgia EMC workers are focused on the hard-hit areas of Jackson and Madison counties, where two substations were affected by a transmission line problem. Officials say some customers may not get power restored until sometime Monday night.

Electricity Rates Under Review

Backers of a bill that would boost electric bills for Georgia Power customers say it will actually save consumers money over the long haul. The legislation would allow Georgia Power to begin collecting interest early for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta years before the construction is completed. It would add an average of $1.30 a month onto customer's bills beginning in 2011. Consumer groups are expected to speak up against the bill.

(Associated Press)

More people losing electricity

Georgia Power says more people are falling behind on utility bill payments and getting their power shut off. The company says disconnects due to nonpayment were up 11 percent between January to August of this year compared to last year. The power company cites job loses, higher mortgage payments and raising prices of food and fuel for the increasing number of power disconnects. The power company refuses to disclose how many of their 2.3 million customers have been disconnected.

(Associated Press)

Near-record power rate hikes

Customers who use Tennessee Valley Authority power are expected to see their largest rate increase in three decades. Starting tomorrow, TVA rates will jump by 20%. That will average $16 to $20 a month per residential bill. Virtually all of TVA's distributors in Georgia are expected to pass the higher rates on to their customers.

Electricity rate hike on the horizon

Tennessee Valley Authority customers can expect higher electric bills this fall. The TVA meets today in Knoxville to discuss a rate hike of around 10 to 20 percent, possibly more. It would take effect October 1. The TVA delivers power to seven states in the Southeast, serving over 130,000 households in Georgia

'Biomass' electricity plant coming to Lamar County

Lamar County officials say a 160-million dollar plant that produces electricity from biomass is on the way to Barnesville. Rollcast Energy plans to build the plant on a 60-thousand square foot tract in the middle Georgia county. Wood waste from logging and land-clearing operations would be burned in the process leading to producing enough electricity for 40-thousand homes. Officials say up to 25 jobs would be created with a 1.5 million dollar payroll.

Georgia Power gets approval for rate hike

Customers of Georgia Power can expect the average residential bill to go up by about $2.93 starting in July. Tuesday, the Public Service Commission approved a rate hike request of Georgia Power. The state’s largest utility had asked for an additional 222-million dollars to help pay for higher fuel costs—--the PSC approved an amount about 7-million below that.

Georgia Power closer to rate hikes

Georgia Power has reached a deal that could bump up customers’ monthly bills by nearly six dollars. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports state and private entities have approved more than $300 million in price hikes. Georgia Power says it needs the boost to pay for compliance with new environmental rules. The Georgia Public Service Commission has yet to approve the increase. The Commission is set to vote on the settlement December.

Chicken waste electric plant can't woo investors

What would be Georgia’s first plant that makes electricity from chicken waste has hit a snag. The plant slated for Danielsville, near Athens, is having trouble attracting private investors.

The facility would produce 20 megawatts of electricity a year by using a mix of chicken litter and wood scraps as fuel to generate steam that turns electricity-generating turbines. Area electric membership cooperatives have agreed to buy the electricity the plant produces to sell as "green" energy.

While private investors have so far been reluctant to finance the plant, the U-S Department of Agriculture handed over a $29-million dollar loan, enough to complete the plant's construction and get it up and running.