Southern Co. Says Energy Measure Would Cost $13 Billion

WASHINGTON — A Senate measure that would require electric utilities to produce a portion of the electricity they sell from renewable energy would cost Atlanta-based Southern Co. billions of dollars, a spokesman said.

Drafted by Senate Energy and Commerce Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., as an amendment to a House-passed energy bill, the measure could come before the Senate as soon as Tuesday.

It would require electric power companies to produce 15 percent of the electricity they sell in 2020 from power sources such as wind and solar.

In a test vote last week, Bingaman was four short of the 60 votes he would need to bring the amendment to a full Senate vote.

Opponents said it would favor areas that have greater access to solar power or wind energy.

During the energy bill debate last week, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., called the Bingaman measure a tax on electricity and a "transfer of wealth" from the Southeast to other parts of the country.

In addition to 39 Republican senators, the White House opposes the renewables standard, saying such requirements should be left up to states.

A spokesman for Southern Co. said the measure would impose "exorbitant" costs on Georgia Power Co. and Southern's three other utilities.

"Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are not really an option for us in the Southeast," said Southern spokesman Mike Tyndall.

He said Southern Co. had "done some modeling of the exorbitant costs the amendment would require us to meet" and concluded the four utilities would have to spend an extra $745 million in 2020, the first year the requirement went into effect.

By 2030, Tyndall said, the annual burden of a renewable portfolio requirement would be more than $1 billion.

He said he was not sure what portion of this cost would be borne by rate payers.

As for available wind power, Tyndall said a study begun two years ago by Georgia Power and scientists at Georgia Tech on the feasibility of installing wind turbines off the state's coast has not been completed.

Traditionally regarded as a "poor" source of wind power, Georgia's offshore areas were reevaluated after Tech energy experts analyzed wind speed collected at U.S. Navy wind monitors several miles off Savannah.

Higher-than-expected wind speeds and shallow water extending miles from the shore along Georgia's continental shelf make the prospects for offshore wind power development much greater than previously thought, said Georgia Tech mechanical engineering professor Sam Shelton.

Susan Stewart, a former Georgia Tech research engineer who is now at Pennsylvania State University, said the joint analysis shows that wind power is "one option" for renewable energy in the Southeast.

However, she said, winds don't blow as hard off Georgia and South Carolina as they do in the Northeast.

And, she said, the Florida coast "south of about Jacksonville" has higher historic hurricane risks that weigh against ocean-based wind turbines.

"When you get down around West Palm Beach, the Gulf Stream comes in close to the coast and the water is really pretty deep," she added.

A spokesman for FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla., said the company had not explored the idea of installing wind turbines off the Georgia coast.

The company, which is the country's largest producer of electricity from wind, has proposed building a 140-megawatt wind project off Long Island, N.Y.

An aide said Bingaman was trying to get four more votes to bring his renewable portfolio standard measure to the Senate floor.

"There are some very active conversations going on with a number of Senate offices to try to win that support," said Bill Wicker, the spokesman.