Georgia electric plants cut carbon faster than the nation

But the state also has cut carbon dioxide emissions more sharply than the national average in recent years, according to the author of a new collaborative report by industry and environmental organizations.

And the chief executive of Southern Co., the Atlanta-based parent of Georgia Power, predicts that because of the past cuts, it will see less impact from whatever new limits go into place.

“It’s liable to affect other people a lot more than it will affect Southern because we are already doing more than most,” company chairman and CEO Tom Fanning said in an interview Wednesday with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As for the potential impact on the rates paid by Georgia Power customers, Fanning said, “Let’s see what the rules are and then we will be able to assess that.”

He made his comments Wednesday after Southern’s annual shareholders meeting, where representatives of environmental organizations urged him to take aggressive steps to further reduce the use of coal to fire power plants and to increase renewables such as solar power that have become significantly more affordable. The company is increasing reliance on solar and for the first time is about to use wind power, but those sources still account for less than one percent of Georgia Power’s energy.

Seth Gunning, with the Sierra Club, says the company needs to do more.

“The fact remains that Southern Company is still among the top three carbon polluters in the nation,” Gunning said.

Next week the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce new carbon limits. It could give states leeway in deciding how power companies would go about complying. Already environmental and business organizations are trotting out predictions about the ramifications of whatever is put into place.

U.S. power plants cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 15 percent between 2007 and 2012, while Georgia’s emissions fell by more than twice that — 38 percent, according to Christopher Van Atten of M.J. Bradley & Associates, which produced the report on U.S. electric industry emissions. The report was commissioned by a range of organizations including Bank of America, the Natural Resources Defense Council and some power companies.

The drop in Georgia emissions is largely tied to decreased use of coal and increased reliance on less expensive natural gas-fueled plants, Van Atten said.

But Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer continued to be the nation’s largest carbon polluter among power plants, emitting more than 20 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, he said. Larger coal plants such as Scherer tend to be more efficient than smaller coal-fired ones, he said, but the plant’s emissions are still far higher than those relying on natural gas.

Southern’s Fanning pointed to the company’s push to diversify its energy sources, including expanding nuclear power at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, and increased use of natural gas and renewables.