• The first is that EMCs will have to pay substantially more for the wholesale power they buy from the market – meaning members would see their electricity become more and more expensive. Higher electric rates could cause their business, retail and industrial members to be at a competitive disadvantage.
• The second result may be a shortage of electricity in the state. Building the plant is a vital part of a comprehensive program to ensure that the citizens of Georgia will not experience power shortages in the future. Without new sources of affordable base load generation like Plant Washington, Georgia could not attract and supply competitively priced electricity to new industries that in-turn good supply jobs to many Georgia citizens, such the Kia automobile plant in West Point. When fully operational, the Kia facility will employ an estimated 2,500 maintenance and production team members. In addition, the Kia supplier base will add an additional 3,000 jobs.

Plant Washington will obtain its water primarily from the Oconee River and secondarily from the Cretaceous Aquifer. Water from the river will be carried to the plant through an approximately 27-mile pipeline. When the flow of the river is below minimum withdrawal standards, the plant will draw water from the Cretaceous Aquifer using a series of wells located along the pipeline. When water is being withdrawn from the aquifer, no water will be withdrawn from the river. Studies show the Oconee River can meet the needs of Plant Washington about 93% of the time.

Plant developers and engineers are also studying additional sources of water that could be used to reduce the amount of water withdrawn from the river, as well as water conservation practices that enhance responsible environmental stewardship.

• NOx emissions: Emissions are reduced using a combination of low NOx burners, over fire air (OFA) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology.
• SO2 emissions: SO2 is captured using wet limestone flue gas desulfurization (FGD). The end product, gypsum, can be recycled for use in products such as wallboard, plaster and fertilizer.
• Particulate emissions: Particulate matter is removed using fabric filter baghouses for control of particulate matter (PM and PM10 – particulate matter 10 microns in diameter or smaller), lead and other pollutants. By comparison, a human hair is 25 to 100 microns thick.

When one uses the term "renewable energy" they usually mean wind, solar or biomass energy. We too wish it was that simple and such resources were abundantly available here in Georgia. The fact is, the P4G EMCs involved have signed up for every renewable energy project that has been announced — and the reality is there just isn’t enough of it.

All of the EMCs involved in Power4Georgians support the use of renewable power sources. The EMCs, through GreenPower EMC, have invested in over 27 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, including 25 MW of biomass, 2.3 MW of low head hydroelectric and 14 kW of photovoltaic (PV) demonstration projects located at various schools around the state. Power4Georgians is exploring a two MW solar PV facility near Sandersville.

While renewables have their challenges, the reality is that the EMCs in this state have been leaders through their green power and solar programs to promote renewable energy. Further, the EMCs recognize that renewables must be part of the ongoing energy generation portfolio.

Wind power is notoriously flighty, particularly at ground level. Most turbine-on-a-post wind powered generators operate at around 30 percent of their rated generation capacity, simply because wind is intermittent and changes direction. Most wind turbines start generating electricity at wind speeds of around 3.5 m/s (7.8 mph); generate maximum ‘rated’ power at around 13 m/s (29 mph); and shut down to prevent storm damage at 25 m/s or above (56 mph).

According to the Southeast Regional Climate Center, the average wind speed in GA is about 7.4 mph, ranging from a high of 8.9 mph in March to a low of 6.1 mph in August, when we need to power the most. The U.S. Department of Energy notes that prevailing winds in Georgia are insufficient to sustain a wind-energy program of any significance other than off the Savannah coast. Furthermore, building of the transmission system would require towers or underground facilities to cross beaches and marshlands. In either case, the transmission system would appear to be economically and environmentally unacceptable.

Never the less, Green Power EMC has moved into the second phase of a wind assessment project at Rocky Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant in Floyd County. It continues to explore national regulatory approvals, conduct environmental studies, and address design challenges and structural issues.

Space is a huge issue when it comes to renewable energies. Wind turbines and large scale solar programs require a substantial footprint to be effective and economical. Coal-fired plants, on the other hand, can produce very large quantities of energy on a relatively small footprint. In addition, solar and wind power projects can only provide energy when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing; however, a fossil-fired power plant generally runs almost constantly.

Consider that Plant Washington will deliver 850 MW of power from an approximately 1,641 acre site – with an actual footprint of fewer than 900 acres – and run more than 90 percent of the year producing almost seven billion kWh of electricity. An 850 MW solar installation would require between 6,000 and 9,000 acres (10 to 14 square miles) and deliver power 20 to 30 percent of the time (and never at night). Likewise, an 850 MW wind power installation (1,700 turbines at 500 kW each) would require more than 270,000 acres (approximately 425 square miles) and provide its rated capacity only 25 to 30 percent of the time.

At the current time, none of these technologies is sufficient to meet our base load power generation needs – the consistent, steady, 24/7 supply of electricity we use to power our homes, businesses and manufacturing facilities.

Coal-fired power plants, such as Plant Washington, can produce base load electricity for less than $010 per kWh, which is very cost effective. With improving technologies, the costs of producing green energy should become competitive in the years ahead, but in the foreseeable future, coal clearly remains a highly dependable, reliable and affordable source of power.

Nuclear power plants are excellent sources of baseload power generation, although they incur higher initial capital costs for construction than other alternatives. In addition, construction delays are a common occurrence when building nuclear facilities; however, once in service, they have the lowest fuel costs and do not produce any pollutants or greenhouse gases. Nuclear power will continue to be an important part of a diverse power supply portfolio for Georgia EMCs.

Through Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC), the EMCs own a 30% share of Georgia’s two nuclear power facilities, Vogtle and Hatch. OPC has signed an agreement that preserves its right to participate on behalf of EMCs, up to its current 30% share, in plans for adding Units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle. However, the need for members of those P4G EMCs is immediate and exceeds their share of all new capacity from a Vogtle expansion. Delays in opening a plant could negatively impact the availability and affordability of electricity.

• Almost double the county’s tax base
• Create over 120 new full-time direct jobs
• Create over $7 million in new wages
• Create over 200 new spin off jobs in the Washington County area
• Require $1 to $4 million in long term support services
• Generate up to $1 million in new business growth
• Become a catalyst for new industry.

First, because of its advanced emissions control systems, the amount of emissions produced by Plant Washington will be so small as to be insignificant, almost immeasurable. As the small amount of emissions travel beyond the property line, the concentration will become even less the greater the distance traveled.

Second, When one flips a switch to turn on a light or an air conditioner, electrons immediately flow from the generating facility to the point of use via a transmission and distribution system. The electrons follow the path of least resistance, which is usually from the nearest generation facility. So much of the energy produced by Plant Washington will be actually used by the customers in closest proximity to the plant.

No. When Plant Washington is built, there should be less mercury in the air than there is today. Between now and 2016, many operating coal-fired power plants in Georgia are going to install emission control system similar to those being installed at Plant Washington, reducing the amount of mercury potentially released to the atmosphere by 70-95 percent. Even using the lower estimate of 70 percent, by 2016, the amount of mercury circulating in Georgia’s air will be reduced by 2,640 pounds and perhaps as much as 3,395 pounds. Plant Washington’s small mercury discharge will be more than offset by these reductions.

According to research by a leading expert on mercury, the air in Washington Country currently contains about 1 to 2 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air. If Plant Washington were to be built and operated as planned, it could increase local concentrations of mercury in air by 0.001 nanograms per cubic meter or 0.05 to 0.1 percent. Such an increase would have no measurable or meaningful effect on mercury concentrations in fish, game, produce or any other food-sources.

Mercury has been studied by health scientists for many years. These studies have looked at health impacts to people and to animals. Two very serious accidents involving gross overexposures to mercury have shed light on the amounts of mercury that causes harm to people. In both cases, people who ate large amounts of mercury-contaminated foods over extended periods of time were seriously harmed, and some died. The amounts of methyl mercury ingested during these accidents were several thousands of times more than the amounts of methyl mercury ingested by people in the U.S.; accidents like these have never occurred in the U.S.

Scientific researchers from the University of Rochester have done extensive studies of children living in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, where people’s diets contain very large amounts of ocean fish. These studies found that amounts of mercury that are 10 to 20 times larger than amounts ingested in the U.S. caused no observable harm.

Finally, although many streams and ponds in Georgia, and throughout the U.S., have been posted with fish advisories, these advisories are set with ample margins of safety – so that even people eating fish from restricted areas are not expected to be harmed. Also, all fish and all other foods naturally contain small amounts of mercury; it is not possible to eat a mercury-free diet.

Yes, reusable materials including fly ash and gypsum will be part of what is produced by the plant’s normal operational processes. As produced, both materials will be available for recycling and will be sold according to demand in the market place. Transport of these materials can be facilitated by rail or by trucks with minimal traffic increase within the Sandersville area.

Fly ash has been used successfully as a partial replacement for Portland cement in the manufacture of concrete mixes. Because of its cement-like and soil stabilizing properties, fly ash is also used in the construction of runways, roadways and bridges, and for soil slope stabilization. Additionally, fly ash is used as a soil additive to increase soil pH and nutrient content. Gypsum also has been used as a soil additive and can be used to improve calcium and sulfur content. In addition, gypsum could potentially be used to manufacture drywall board (“sheetrock”).

• A two-layer composite liner will be constructed at the storage facility to prevent percolation of water through the stored materials to the underlying groundwater.
• The first layer will be approximately two feet thick and comprised of compacted soil, synthetic clay materials and a non-permeable synthetic flexible membrane.
• The second layer, underlying the non-permeable membrane, will consist of cohesive soil (clay) also two feet thick.
• Above this four-foot-thick synthetic barrier will be a two-foot-thick drainage layer with an integrated sump and water collection system to remove any free water (i.e. rain) that enters the storage facility for treatment.
• In addition, approximately 30 feet of low-permeability soils underlie the composite liner and will provide further separation from the groundwater table.
• The surface of the solid materials handling facility will be sloped to facilitate drainage, and areas that remain inactive will be covered.

Storm water run-off will be managed on-site depending on where it falls and what it contacts. Storm water that does not fall on the solid materials handling facility will be diverted around the storage cell so it will not come into contact with stored ash and gypsum. This water will either be routed to on-site storage basins for reuse at the plant or routed to sediment ponds for removal of silt and sediment prior to release to Williamson Swamp Creek.

BACT stand for “best available control technology.” When a new power plant or other facility is being developed that will emit certain regulated substances, the facility must perform what is called a BACT analysis as part of its permitting process.

During the BACT analysis process, facility engineers perform an extensive evaluation of each of the facility’s regulated emissions and the most effective technologies to limit those emissions to comply with state and federal regulations. For a supercritical coal-fired power plant, the major types of emissions that are required by law to be controlled and are therefore subject to BACT analysis include particulate emissions, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds(VOC),sulfuric acid mist, fluorides (as HF), lead (Pb), carbon monoxide (CO) and mercury (Hg). Mercury BACT is not required under Federal Regulations but is under State (Georgia) regulations.

There are five steps in a typical BACT analysis for each type of emission:

• Identify all control technologies
• Eliminate technically infeasible options
• Rank remaining technically feasible options
• Evaluate remaining control technologies
• Select BACT

No. Because of their unique chemical and physical properties, different types of emission compounds are best controlled by different technologies. For example, particulate emissions are best controlled through what is called a fabric filter baghouse, while NOx emissions are best controlled through a combination of combustion controls and a selective catalytic reduction process. SO2 emissions are best controlled through wet flue gas desulfurization technology – more commonly referred to as “wet scrubbers.” For this reason, a modern power plant such as Plant Washington will be engineered with multiple emissions control technologies to assure that all types of emissions are controlled in compliance with state and federal air quality standards.

It should be noted that the emissions control technologies that will be used at Plant Washington are designed to work in tandem. In some cases, more than one technology is used for the control of a single type of emission; for example, both low NOx burners and over-fire air ports reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides. In other cases, an individual control technology is effective at reducing multiple types of emissions – the fabric filter baghouses reduce emissions of both mercury and particulate matter. The result is an interconnected system of controls that will reduce regulated emissions from Plant Washington to levels that are among the lowest in the nation.