Georgia Power asks to keep coal plants burning to meet AI demand

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GRID: Georgia Power files a long-term plan that increases forecasted power demand by 8,200 MW per year in anticipation of new AI data centers, and calls for extending the life of its coal-fired power plants from 2028 into the 2030s. (WABE/​Grist, Associated Press)

ALSO: An open-source Chinese artificial intelligence model that uses less power than those in the U.S. raises questions about AI-related projections calling for new power generation and plans for more than 20,000 MW of gas-fired power in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. (Floodlight)

OVERSIGHT:

• Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash announces he’ll retire by September, the end of the federal utility’s fiscal year. (Knoxville News Sentinel, Associated Press)

• North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein appoints two members to serve the remainder of a state’s utilities board chairperson’s term. (news release)

SOLAR: An energy developer builds a 200 MW solar farm in South Carolina with plans to add another 50 MW next year, as state lawmakers consider legislation that would more tightly regulate and restrict such projects. (Inside Climate News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Georgia leaders and clean energy advocates worry President Trump’s attacks on electric vehicles and clean energy will affect projected 43,000 related jobs and more than $24 billion in investment in the state. (Georgia Recorder)

• A Virginia city’s industrial development authority receives a nearly $3 million loan to pay off and improve a building that houses an electric sports car manufacturer. (Cardinal News)

• A rural Tennessee county celebrates its purchase of a 555-acre site after receiving numerous inquiries about industrial sites related to Ford’s electric vehicle and battery plant a few counties away. (Tennessee Lookout)

FOSSIL FUELS:

• Texas residents push to close the coal-fired units on a 3,745 MW coal- and gas-fired power plant that’s been operating since the 1950s, but which some neighbors hadn’t noticed until recently because it’s located away from main roads. (Houston Chronicle)

• An energy company announces plans to shift a Texas coal-fired power plant to natural gas in May. (Amarillo Globe-News)

COMMENTARY:

• Virginia lawmakers are moving to facilitate more construction of solar farms but the industry still faces challenges from hostile localities, Dominion Energy’s expensive interconnection requirements and looming changes to net metering, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

• South Carolina should consider relaunching construction of two reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear station — if there’s a way to do it without ​“sucker punching the public” after already spending $9 billion on the project before it was abandoned in 2017, writes an editorial board. (Post and Courier)