For more than 50 years, generating units at Plant Arkwright in Macon, Plant Atkinson in Smyrna and Plant Mitchell in Albany have been producing electricity reliably for Georgia Power customers. Now, for economic reasons, 11 of those units -- totaling 415 megawatts (mw) of capacity -- are being proposed for retirement at the end of this year.

Units proposed for retirement include: Plant Arkwright units 1 through 4, which are each 40 mw coal-fueled units, plus two 15-mw natural gas combustion turbine (CT) units; Plant Atkinson units 2 through 4, which are each 60 mw coal units; and units 1 and 2 at Plant Mitchell, which are 22.5 mw coal units. All of the units, with the exception of the combustion turbines at Arkwright, began commercial operation in the 1940s.

“This proposal is based on thorough economic analyses,” said David Ratcliffe, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “Since 1995, we have been required by the Georgia Public Service Commission to conduct a unit retirement analysis as part of the Integrated Resource Plan. When we did this analysis for our 2005 plan, the results indicated that it is more economical to retire these 11 units than to continue to operate them.”

Georgia Power will include the plant retirement proposal as part of an amended Integrated Resource Plan that will be filed with the PSC in June. That plan will also include an adjusted demand forecast and a proposal to certify new generation sources to meet the state’s electricity needs in 2005.

“We have new generating units coming on line this summer that will ensure an adequate amount of available electricity through 2004,” said Chris Womack, senior vice president of Generation at Georgia Power. “The retirement of these units will not have a major impact on the reliability of our system.” The total megawatt output from the 11 units proposed for retirement is less than the generating capacity of one of the two new natural-gas fueled combined cycle units at Plant Wansley that will begin operation this summer, according to Womack.

Plant Arkwright will be dismantled following retirement. Plant Atkinson will remain in place because it is on the same site as Plant McDonough. Plant Mitchell still will operate a 125 mw steam unit plus three combustion turbine units. The 220-acre Plant Arkwright site on the Ocmulgee River north of Macon will be evaluated for future use.

As a result of the retirements, a total of 82 jobs will be eliminated -- 68 at Plant Arkwright and 14 at Plant Atkinson.

In addition to a long-term economic benefit, the retirement of the 11 units also will result in a reduction of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions. These older units are less efficient to operate and have higher emission rates than the larger and newer plants. By replacing the older units with new natural gas units, overall air emissions will be reduced.