Georgia Power Starts Commercial Operation of Unit 4 at Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant

Georgia Power announced that Plant Vogtle Unit 4 achieved commercial operation on April 29, bringing the total generating capacity of the plant to over 4.6 gigawatts. With all four units now operational, Plant Vogtle is the largest nuclear power plant in the U.S. and is expected to generate over 30 million megawatt hours of electricity annually.

The fourth unit has a net electrical output of 1,102 megawatts, according to Georgia Power which owns the plant jointly with three other utility companies. Unit 3, a 1.1-gigawatt nuclear power reactor, started commercial operation in July 2023, joining two existing reactors and becoming the first new reactor to start up in the U.S. since the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar 2 was commissioned in 2016. The construction of Units 3 and 4 was approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission through the integrated resource planning process. The two units were originally expected to cost $14 billion and come online in 2016 and 2017, respectively, but the project ran into construction delays and cost overruns. Unit 1 and 2 have been operational since 1987 and 1989, respectively.

In January, the commission issued an order adopting a stipulation that Georgia Power filed last August regarding the recovery of the remaining costs associated with the addition of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4. The proposed stipulated agreement between Georgia Power, the commission’s Public Interest Advocacy staff and several intervening parties, requested the commission to find that $7.562 billion in capital and construction costs are reasonable and prudent, and that Georgia Power be allowed to adjust retail base rates to include these costs as well as the related financing costs and operating expenses.

These developments come at a time when focus on decarbonization and energy security has elevated the importance of nuclear power as a critical technology to achieve national and state goals.

Plant Vogtle is operated by Southern Nuclear on behalf of the co-owners including Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.