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Vogtle Expansion Cost Jumps Again; In-Service Dates Set for 2023

July 28, 2022

Southern Co. on July 28 increased its cost estimate for Georgia Power’s share of the two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant.

Southern, during an investor presentation of the company’s second-quarter financial results, said Georgia Power’s share of capital costs for the project has risen by $ 52 million, to about $ 10.5 billion in total. Georgia Power, the largest of four utilities owned by Southern Co., owns 45.7% of the project. The construction of Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle is years behind schedule, and the project’s price tag has ballooned to more than $ 30 billion, according to energy industry analysts.

The Vogtle expansion is adding two 1,117-MW Westinghouse AP1000 reactors to two existing units at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia. The project, when initially approved in 2009, was expected to cost about $ 14 billion, with the new reactors coming online in 2016 and 2017. Myriad issues have contributed to delays for the project, including the bankruptcy of Westinghouse and the coronavirus pandemic.…

Vogtle Nuclear Expansion Price Tag Tops $30 Billion

May 10, 2022

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An updated financial report from one of the owners of the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia shows the cost to build two new reactors has now topped $ 30 billion, more than double the original price tag expected for the project.

The Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), one of four groups with an ownership stake in the Vogtle expansion, on May 6 raised its total cost forecast for the project to $ 7.8 billion, up from $ 7.5 billion. The group’s updated figures, when combined with cost estimates from the other owners, push the cost to build two new 1,100-MW reactors at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia, to at least $ 30.3 billion.

The owners’ updated cost estimate does not include the $ 3.68 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to the project’s owners after Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, putting total spending for the expansion in the range of $ 34 billion.

More Cost Overruns

MEAG, which provides power to city-owned utilities, owns 22.7% of Vogtle.…

SRP Approves Arizona Expansion with 16 Gas-Fired Turbines

September 15, 2021

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The post SRP Approves Arizona Expansion with 16 Gas-Fired Turbines appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The board of directors of Arizona’s second-largest public utility has approved a nearly $ 1 billion plan to expand the natural gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station, adding 820 MW of generation capacity.

The Coolidge station at present is a 575-MW power plant with 12 single-cycle gas turbines; the plant began operating in 2011. The expansion plan approved Sept. 13 would add another 16 gas-fired turbines to the site.

The Coolidge station is operated by Salt River Project (SRP). The expansion plan was approved by an 8-6 vote of the utility’s board on Monday. The board also rejected a motion to table the decision for one month so the proposal and associated data could be analyzed.

The utility has not provided extensive details about the project, and SRP did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the expansion. An Aug. 24 presentation to the Salt River Project Power Committee said expanding the gas-fired plant would be more cost-effective than building carbon-free power generation under scenarios that included “low gas prices.”…

More Delays for Vogtle Plant Expansion

October 26, 2020

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The post More Delays for Vogtle Plant Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Georgia Power said it still expects to meet a state regulatory deadline for commercial operation of the first of two new reactors at its Vogtle nuclear plant expansion. The utility, though, on Oct. 22 acknowledged it has pushed back some aspects of the project, including delaying the loading of nuclear fuel for the first reactor another four months, to April 2021.

The utility in its latest project filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) said it now expects to conduct an important system test at the site three months later than outlined in its previous plan, which was filed in July. It’s the third delay this year for the hot functional testing procedure. Georgia Power said that test could now occur in January 2021, but could be moved back to March of next year. The utility in the Oct. 22 filing said fuel loading also may be delayed to mid-year 2021.…

Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident

May 2, 2020

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The post Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident appeared first on POWER Magazine.

“We still expect to meet the November regulatory-approved in-service dates for both Units 3 and 4,” Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on April 30. The in-service dates he was referring to are November 2021 and November 2022 for Units 3 and 4, respectively, at the Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Georgia. The project is owned by four partners: Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corp. (OPC, 30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power, 22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).

Furthermore, Fanning said site managers continue to believe they can hit target dates set in the company’s “Aggressive Site Workplan,” which are May 2021 and May 2022, respectively. “Is it riskier than it was before? Yeah. But it’s still a reasonable objective; otherwise, we wouldn’t stick with it,” said Fanning.

Significant Progress Made on Both New Vogtle Units

About two weeks ago, Southern Company announced it would reduce the workforce on the project by 20% in an effort to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.…

COVID-19 May Delay Vogtle Nuclear Expansion

April 2, 2020

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The post COVID-19 May Delay Vogtle Nuclear Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Co. in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1 said the COVID-19 pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities” at the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project in Georgia.

The company in the filing said, “It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the COVID-19 outbreak will have on the current construction schedule or budget” for the two new nuclear reactors at the site near Waynesboro, Georgia. Southern said state and federal government actions designed to slow the spread of the virus, such as stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, could bring disruptions to both the labor pool and supply chains.

The company said effects of the coronavirus pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4.”

John Kraft, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, the lead utility on the project, told POWER on Wednesday that “Construction work continues at the site under continuing enhanced protocols designed to reduce worker-to-worker contact and keep areas that workers frequent, cleaned and sanitized. …