Manufacturing growth pushes Georgia energy demands, and costs, to new highs

Quickly rising demand for energy in Georgia has left a major state power provider searching for additional sources of electricity to meet growing near-term needs, all while keeping in mind carbon-zero commitments.

Just a little over a year after Georgia Power released its Integrated Resources Plan, a blueprint for meeting power demand through 2030 and beyond, the company has then said the increase was necessary as energy demand and costs associated with ongoing work on new nuclear reactors at their Plant Vogtle rose.

Officials linked the rise in demand squarely to the state’s economic development efforts that have led to a growing number of power-hungry manufacturing industries calling Georgia home.

Georgia Power noted substantial increases across several industries since fiscal 2021, resulting in job creation in the automotive industry by 324% and the agricultural industry by 29%, with investments in the aerospace industry increasing by more than 1,000%.

Georgia Power officials said the size of several projects, including the state’s most recent electric vehicle incentive agreement with Rivian, launched over the last few years were larger in terms of investments and eventual energy needs.

In fiscal 2023 alone it noted new investmentsof $24 billion for 426 projects across all industries, creating 38,400 new jobs. Combined with a corresponding population boom, the state’s energy requirements skyrocketed.

Similar balancing acts, weighing costs with additional capacity and climate commitments, are unfolding across the U.S. Southeast where billions in economic incentives are supercharging localized industrial development, and in some states, it is taxing local power networks.

Investor-controlled Duke Energy, North Carolina’s largest energy provider, which also services South Carolina, found a similar need to update plans to meet an increased demand while lawmakers in South Carolina met on Oct. 18 to discuss the issue of increased power demand. State Speaker of the House Murrell Smith said the quick pace of economic development and population growth were bringing the state’s power grid to a “crisis point.”

In Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority cleared new funds to grow a diversity of electrical generation capacity, citing growing demand that outstrips the sum total to be provided by major projects underway. The TVA reported that U.S. Southeast’s electrical demand was growing faster than the national average, resulting in a nearly 3% increase in power demand from 2019 to 2022.

Dominion Energy in Virginia recently projected massive growth in its local power demand over the next four years, A 214% increase in Northern Virginia alone.

Florida has reported also increased demand linked to population growth and economy, as has Alabama, and both have sought to grow and diversify localenergy production.

According to the Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook report for 2023, consumption of all forms of energy in the United States is expected to increase from a range of 0% and 15% from 2022 to 2050, with the industrial sector expected to see the most growth.

Before implementation, Georgia Powers new plan must be approved by the state’s Public Service Commission.