House lawmakers are pushing legislation that would save federal tax credits from expiring that are worth billions to the Plant Vogtle project and a similar plant in South Carolina, according to a published report.
The proposed legislation, which passed a House Ways and Means Committee vote last week, would extend the tax credit’s current 2021 deadline for the two nuclear projects to be completed, reported E&E News, a utility industry publication.
That extension could help preserve $800 million worth of tax credits that Georgia Power has been counting on to help lower the cost of the project to add two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.
The South Carolina project’s tax incentives total more than $2 billion. That project is headed by SCANA Corp.
The proposed legislation could help clear the path to continue construction of the two half-built nuclear projects, which were thrown into upheaval by the March bankruptcy of their key contractor, Westinghouse Electric.
Earlier this month Georgia Power also reached agreements with Westinghouse and its parent company, Toshiba Corp., that helped preserve a guarantee worth billions of dollars to the project.
Georgia Power has been studying whether to go forward with the Vogtle project in the wake of Westinghouse’s bankruptcy, which it has acknowledged will lead to more delays beyond its earlier projections to finish by the end of 2020.
As it is, the Vogtle project is already over $3 billion over budget and more than three years behind its original schedule.
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