Renewable Energy Investments
For renewable energy to make a larger contribution toward meeting overall demand and achieve its associated environmental benefits, Southern Company will:
- Research renewable energy technologies, such as biomass, solar, and wind.
- Identify and implement economically feasible renewable technologies that take advantage of native resources and work well in the Southeast. View Summary Project Report 2007 about wind power generation potential off the Georgia coast (PDF 3.7MB).
Southern Company owns a geothermal plant in Hilo, Hawaii.
Researching Renewable Energy Technologies
Renewables like solar power and wind turbines often catch the public eye, but challenges with their consistent and widespread use in the Southeast persist. Solar energy is expensive to capture, and solar generation equipment often requires large tracts of open land to install. Cloud cover and night skies limit its reliability. Wind turbines also require acres of land. Calm conditions prevail frequently in the Southeast, making viable wind power sites scarce and operation intermittent.
Although the relative scarcity of renewable resources in the southeast limits the overall extent of their use here, Southern Company continues to research and evaluate the development of those sources that do show promise.
Southern Company has invested $6 million over the past five years in research and development of renewable energy. Nearly 20 research and development projects are in progress, including one that uses switchgrass as a biomass fuel. The switchgrass tests have shown lower emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury.
Southern Company operates 34 hydroelectric plants, some originally licensed more than 100 years ago.
We've also expanded research into biomass gasification, a technology based on coal gasification, which could be more economical than biomass combustion.
Southern Company joined the Georgia Institute of Technology to study the viability of offshore wind turbines in the Southeast. The study found technology limitations and regulatory restrictions that will make development of offshore wind projects difficult in the Southeast.
We are also a member of the American Wind Energy Association, the American Council for Renewable Energy, the Utility Wind Integration Group, the Solar Electric Power Association, and the Electric Power Research Institute Biomass Interest Group.
Working with Ormat, one of the largest geothermal corporations in the world, Southern Company is gaining experience with geothermal generation in Hawaii. We own a 30-megawatt geothermal generation project providing about 15 percent of the power for the Island of Hawaii.
Identifying and Implementing Renewables for the Southeast
Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power currently offer customers a renewable energy choice.
The energy is produced from biomass sources such as sawdust, switchgrass, and landfill gas. To cover the additional cost of the renewable energy, customers elect to pay a $4.50 to $6 surcharge per 100 kilowatt-hours.
Energy from this renewable source is then added to the electric grid.
Gulf Power's photovoltaic program offers customers the opportunity to purchase blocks of solar kilowatt hours.
Gulf Power hopes to expand the program, using landfill gas as an energy source.
Additionally, Southern Company hydroelectric plants produce three percent of our generation. This output accounts for roughly all the practical sources for hydroelectric power within our service territory and balances recreational use and habitat conservation around streams and rivers.