Georgia Power's second natural gas unit at Plant McDonough in Smyrna has started producing electricity, the company said Monday.

The 840-megawatt unit is the second of three that will produce natural gas-fired electricity at the site. The first unit started producing power in Dec. 2011. All three units will produce enough electricity to power 625,000 homes.

Georgia Power closed Plant McDonough's two coal-fired units. The utility is considering closing other coal-fired units to comply with a suite of environmental rules. Some units may be equipped with pollution controls or converted to run on natural gas instead.

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