Vogtle Expansion Cost Jumps Again; In-Service Dates Set for 2023
Credit to Author: Darrell Proctor| Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 17:59:30 +0000
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.
Southern Co. on Thursday said it now expects Unit 3 to enter service in the first quarter of next year, with Unit 4 following in fourth quarter of 2023. The reactors are the only large-scale nuclear power units under construction in the U.S.
Oglethorpe Power Corp. and Dalton Utilities—two of the other companies involved in the project—have recently said they want to freeze their capital outlays for the expansion. Oglethorpe at present owns 30% of the project; Dalton owns just 1.6%. It’s expected that the two groups’ ownership stakes will be redetermined depending on the final cost to complete construction.
The Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, with a 22.7% stake, is the other owner of the project.
Units 1 and 2 at Vogtle, with total power generation capacity of 2.4 GW, have operated since 1987 and 1989, respectively.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
The post Vogtle Expansion Cost Jumps Again; In-Service Dates Set for 2023 appeared first on POWER Magazine.