An energy supply resource generally considered renewable and in plentiful supply in Georgia is running into opposition from environmental groups.
Atlanta-based Georgia Power is seeking approval from the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to build three plants in South Georgia that would generate about 80 megawatts of electricity by burning wood pellets and other forms of biomass.
Most of that power - 70 megawatts - would come through a 30-year power-purchasing agreement (PPA) with Altamaha Green Energy LLC, which operates a mill in Wayne County. Two other 10-year PPAs with International Paper Co. would yield the rest of the biomass from mills in Port Wentworth and Macon County.
Georgia Power officials are pitching the proposal as a way to create jobs in rural parts of the state and give a forestry industry with an oversupply of trees another market for Georgia timber.
It's an argument that resonates with members of the PSC, who have historically backed Georgia Power's efforts to ensure a diverse portfolio of energy supply sources including coal, natural gas, nuclear, and solar.
"Biomass is produced in Georgia. The trees are grown in Georgia and transported by local trucks," Commissioner Lauren "Bubba" McDonald said Thursday during a hearing on the plan. "I see that as part of the total picture."
But environmental groups argue burning biomass spews harmful pollution into the atmosphere.
"Burning wood pellets releases more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy than burning fossil fuels like gas, oil, or even coal, accelerating climate change," the North Carolina-based organization Dogwood Alliance writes on its website. "We need to use low-carbon technologies like solar and wind to produce energy, not wood pellets or fossil fuels."
However, Thursday's hearing focused more on the cost of the three biomass projects than on pollution.
"Customers will be paying for more than three times the value of the energy they will be receiving," said Aradhana Chandra, a lawyer for the Atlanta-based Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the environmental group Georgia Interfaith Power and Light in the case.
Georgia Power officials who testified Thursday conceded biomass is significantly more expensive than other sources of energy generation in the utility's arsenal.
"Biomass is not the least expensive resource," said Jeffrey Grubb, director of resource planning for Georgia Power. "I think everyone knows that."
But Grubb said finding the least expensive way to generate electricity wasn't the point of the Request for Proposals the company put out for the biomass projects.
"(The cost) doesn't take into account the other things the commission will consider in this hearing, which is the economic development and forestry support aspects," he said.
“It was not a price-driven evaluation," added Harold Grubb, president of New Hampshire-based Accion Group, who conducted an independent evaluation of the projects. "We did not have a price cap.
"There are different considerations here. There’s the cost issue. There’s also the issue of a determination by this commission whether it is a benefit not only to the state but to ratepayers to have diversified generation.”
Chandra also questioned the reliability of biomass. She said Georgia Power had 330 megawatts of biomass in its system when Winter Storm Elliott hit Georgia on Christmas Eve, 2022, setting record-low temperatures in many areas. However, 267 of those megawatts were unavailable, she said.
"Biomass didn't perform very well during Winter Storm Elliott," she said.
Chandra dismissed arguments that the storm was particularly ill-timed for utilities to respond, striking on a holiday weekend.
"Whether it's Christmas or a weekend, customers don't care," she said. "They want their power to be on."
The PSC's Public Interest Advocacy Staff has recommended that the commission certify the three biomass projects based both on the economic benefits they would bring to the forestry industry and the benefits of diversifying Georgia Power's energy generation mix.
Judd, however, took no position on the plan.
The commission is scheduled to hold a final hearing on the projects Sept. 12 and vote on them Sept. 17.
