Georgia Power

Georgia Power (nyse|GPW) is an electricity corporation based in Georgia. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that is operated by Southern Company.

Georgia Power is an investor-owned, tax-paying public utility that serves more than two million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. It employs approximately 9000 workers throughout the state. [ [http://www.southernco.com/gapower/about/about.asp?mnuOpco=gpc&mnuType=sub&mnuItem=ni] Georgia Power - About Us]

The Georgia Power Building, its primary corporate office building, is located at 241 Ralph McGill Boulevard in downtown Atlanta.

In 2006 the Savannah Electric & Power Company, a separate subsidiary of Southern Company, was merged into Georgia Power.

History

Originally the Georgia Railway and Power Company, it began in 1902 as a streetcar company running the trolleys in Atlanta, and was the successor to the Atlanta Consolidated Street Railway Company. In the 1930s, they published a free newsletter called "Two Bells" which was distributed on their streetcars. [Kurtz, p.69] It built several dams, including the Morgan Falls Dam just north of the city, and some as far away as the Tallulah River in the northeast Georgia mountains. These hydroelectric dams form Lake Burton, Lake Seed, Lake Rabun, Lake Tallulah Falls and Lake Tugalo, the last straddling the border with South Carolina on the Tugaloo River.

After the Atlanta transit strike of 1950, the Atlanta Transit Company took over operations. Atlanta Streetcar was formed in the 2000s to establish a new trolley service along Peachtree Street.

Coal power

Georgia Power operates Plant Scherer.

According to "Natural History Magazine", as of 2006 Plant Scherer is the largest single point-source for carbon dioxide emissions in the United States [http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/0506/0506_feature.html] . It was also ranked the 20th in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by the Center for Global Development on its list of global power plants in November 2007. It was the only power plant in the United States that was listed in the world's top 25 Carbon Dioxide producers [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/cfgd-crc111207.php] .

Transition to renewables

Georgia Power asked the state's public service commission for approval to convert the coal-fired Plant Mitchell to run on wood fuel. If approved, the retrofit will begin in 2011 and the biomass plant will start operating in mid-2012. The 96-MW biomass plant will run on surplus wood from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the plant, which is located near Albany, Georgia.

References

* Kurtz, Wilber, "Technical Advisor: The Making of "Gone With The Wind". The Hollywood Journals", "Atlanta Historical Journal", Vol. XXII, No.2, Summer, 1978.

Notes