Southern CEO says extending coal among options to meet AI demand
The booming demand for electricity from data centers and new factories requires an “all of the above” energy strategy that opens up the possibility of Southern Co. extending the retirement date of one of its coal plants, said CEO Chris Womack.
“As we look at responding to demand growth, looking at coal operating longer is a consideration,” Womack said. “Maybe those units get extended further into the next decade before they retire,” he said referring to units at a Georgia plant.
Womack emphasized in an interview Tuesday at the EEI Financial Conference in Florida that any plant retirement decisions would be submitted to Southern’s regulators and require their approval. He also said that the Atlanta-based company’s target to be net-zero on carbon emissions by 2050 remains unchanged.
US utilities are racing to find — or preserve — power sources that can help meet what is now expected to be a big bump in demand from data centers powering artificial intelligence, electric cars and domestic factories. One option is to keep old fossil-fuel plants open longer than expected or planned, which would further complicate the fight against global warming. Already, some utilities have discarded or are considering scrapping their climate targets.
Womack said that rising power demand provides a rationale to delay coal retirements and the potential end to certain power-plant emission rules under a Trump administration could make it easier to run those plants longer into the future.
Southern facilities under consideration for extension are coal-fired units at Plant Bowen in Georgia. Plant Bowen doesn’t currently have a set retirement date, according to the company. Southern subsidiary Georgia Power proposed retiring Bowen units 1 and 2 by the end of 2028 but regulators ordered that those unit retirements instead be put forth in its resource plan next year, according to a regulatory filing.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir is a global leader in mining technology. We recognise that our planet’s future depends on the transition to renewable energy, and that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
