Power execs: Georgia’s energy sources limited

By DAVID MARKIEWICZ

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Green energy advocates from around the nation are meeting in Atlanta this week, a get-together they hope will spark interest in alternative energy in the Southeast.

But Georgia Power executives who spoke at the Renewable Energy Markets Conference Monday said every region and state has its own alternative energy needs and prospects. And, they said, Georgia is not California or Oregon where the potential for wind, solar and other sources may be greater and more developed.

“We’re still getting the word out about what it means to be green,” said A. Wilson Mallard, pricing analyst for Georgia Power. “We’re still in customer education mode.”

Robert Hughes, manager of product marketing for the utility, called energy pricing a relatively “low interest” issue for some Georgians because electricity costs are lower here than in some states in the West or East. There, customers might turn to alternative energy sources because the price of energy from traditional sources such as coal is relatively high.

Mallard said Georgia Power hopes to increase the number of customers participating in its Green Energy and Renewables program.

Oscar Harper, Georgia Power’s vice president of resource planning, said many of the conference attendees don’t fully appreciate the different needs and resources of Georgia.

While some states advocate the future of wind power, for example, Harper said Georgia has little such capability. Solar, he added, isn’t as cost-effective an alternative here as in the desert Southwest, although he said federal and state investment tax credits and federal stimulus dollars will help solar’s development.

Harper cited biomass as one alternative with promise in Georgia. He also touted nuclear energy.

“There’s not one size that fits all,” he said.