Georgia Power wants to burn wood for fuel, but environmentalists say no. Who decides?

Georgia Power will make a case Thursday to the Public Service Commission to add more biomass, a form of energy generation that burns wood pellets or other organic matter, to the state’s energy portfolio.

The energy provider uses oil/gas, coal, hydropower, nuclear, and renewables like solar, wind and battery storage to serve 2.7 million customers. It generates 19,000 megawatts of energy, according to the Energy Information Agency . A sliver of that is the existing biomass plants that generate 350 megawatts that Georgia Power calls renewable.

They want to add 80 MW in the form of three plants that would begin operation in the next two to five years as part of its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, a deal with the Public Service Commission that guides how the company provides power to its customers for long periods of time. The plan requires approval from the five-member body of the Public Service Commission, but there are critics of the plan.

The Georgia Forestry Commission told the Ledger-Enquirer in April that biomass and bioenergy “remains a key part of Georgia’s long-term strategy and a key element for our economy’s evolution.”

Georgia is second in the nation for biomass generation, trailing only California, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Agency.

Critiques from Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and Dogwood Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting Southern forests and communities from logging, say biomass is not renewable. They say it exacerbates the climate crisis and pollutes vulnerable communities.

“The burning of biomass isn’t efficient, clean, or green,” Treva Gear, the Georgia campaign manager for Dogwood Alliance, said. “We know this based on our European neighbors who are complaining of those biomass burning in those Drax facilities.”

Gear is referring to a wood burning power plant, Drax, which has been cited as Britain’s largest carbon emitter receiving major subsidies since 2012.

“The pollution generated by these plants is major. The process of sourcing of the wood (is one thing), but just drying it creates formaldehyde, acrolein, multiple volatile organic compounds, and harmful air pollutants, most cancer causing agents .”

The largest biomass processing plant in the Southeast is in Waycross, and is owned by Enviva. Waycross produces 800,000 dry metric tons of wood pellets per year. It started operations just three years ago.

The company takes wood pellets by train to Savannah’s port and ships it to Europe. Enviva filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, which some said pointed to signs of a shifting industry.

But the Georgia Forestry Commission says Georgia forests are “in a good place from a sustainability standpoint because we grow more wood every year than we harvest by 50%.”

Georgia Power claims “Biomass is carbon-neutral since the emissions equal the carbon dioxide absorbed by trees as they mature,” according to its website.

“Burning of wood pellets for power emits more carbon per megawatt produced than burning coal,” said Othelllious Cato, an organizer for Georgia Interfaith Power and Light in southern Georgia.

The Southern Environmental Law Center will cross-examine Georgia Power in the hearing Thursday in Atlanta.

There are two things the SELC said the Public Service Commission need to consider in this request from Georgia Power: the price and whether it is in the public interest.

An independent evaluator, Accion Group LLC, gave testimony for Georgia Power a few weeks ago and said the price is not in the interest of bill payers.

“The prices of the contracted biomass are exceptionally high when compared to the Company’s avoided cost…and the cost to ratepayers is three times the avoided cost,” Harold Judd, president of Accion Group, said. “It would be beneficial to Georgia Power ratepayers if the developer chose to terminate the (contract).”

SELC and Georgia Power could not provide the total cost of the biomass power purchase agreement, citing trade secrets.

“The Public Service Commission proposed and approved an amendment to the 2022 resource plan directing Georgia Power to reissue the Biomass proposal to procure up to 140 MW of new biomass capacity and energy for Georgia Power Customers,” Matthew Kent, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, said in an email.

Georgia Power received four bids for the 80 MW, and a case will be made Thursday for three of the bids. They include:

• International Paper– Flint River Mill at 3.6 MW of biomass in Macon County. A 10 year term starting in 2026.

• International Paper – Port Wentworth Mill at 4.3 MW of biomass in ChathamCounty. A 10 year term starting in 2027.

• Altamaha Green Energy at 70 MW of “greenfield biomass” in Wayne County. A 30 year term starting in 2029.

Why biomass?

The case comes as a way to finalize the 2022 resource plan contract. Kent said a mix of resources is necessary to provide clean, safe, reliable and affordable electric services 24/7, but did not say why Georgia Power isn’t pursuing more renewables like solar, wind, or batteries. He instead said biomass is renewable.

“As recognized by the Commission, the benefits of biomass as a renewable resource support Georgia’s forest industry and rural and economic development growth,” he said in an email. “It is a non-intermittent resource with an onsite fuel source and can provide capacity and energy in any hour of the day.”

The demand for energy has increased rapidly in Georgia. More companies, specifically technology companies, are coming to the Peach State. Georgia Power’s own forecast in 2022 changed from 400 MW to 6,600 MW through 2031, prompting the a 2023 update to the resource plan.

Public Commissioner Jason Shaw told the Ledger-Enquirer in April that 80% of the growth is attributed to artificial intelligence and data centers.

“You cannot put all your eggs in one basket, moving toward clean energy transition is very challenging with this unprecedented growth,” he said.

Brionté McCorkle, executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters, also pointed to data centers as the latest reason for demand increase. But she said there is also a structure at play that lends itself to Georgia Power succeeding by growing. She said these projections should be “viewed with caution.”

“The fact is Georgia Power as it’s currently structured is incentivized to build expensive things, because overbuilding the grid above and beyond what’s needed (even factoring in reserve needs) is profitable for its shareholders at the expense of its captive base of Georgia Power customers,” McCorkle said in an email.

McCorkle, Dogwood Alliance, and the SELC encourage Georgia Power customers to email and call Public Service Commissioners or attend hearings.

The schedule for requesting 80 MW of biomass as part of the 2022 resource plan is as follows:

• Aug. 29: the commission will hear Georgia Power’s testimony

• Sept. 12: Closing comments

• Sept. 17: The final vote. The public has up to 24 hours before the vote on the 17th to submit written comments.

All events open to the public, but individuals must sign up the morning of the meeting to speak.