Andy Li, andy.li@sierraclub.org
ATLANTA - Today, Sierra Club released its sixth Dirty Truth Report. This year, Georgia Power scored a 0 out of 100 for the fourth year in a row. The report grades utilities across the country based on how much coal they are retiring, how much gas they are planning, and how much renewable energy they are adding.
Nationally, the 76 utilities scored 7 out of 100 in aggregate. This is eight points lower than last year’s report and the lowest score in the report’s history.
According the Dirty Truth Report, Georgia Power is planning on:
- Adding 7,439 MW of new gas by 2035.
- Retiring 0 MW of coal
- Only adding 17,398 MWh (~8 GW) of renewable energy, only enough to replace 14% of their coal and gas generation and planned load.
Renewable energy remains the cheapest way to generate electricity, while coal and fossil fuels remain expensive and extremely harmful to public health. Despite this, the Dirty Truth Report shows that Georgia Power is doubling down on dangerous, expensive fossil fuels. This means higher bills for families, more dangerous pollution, and less reliable energy.
The full report is available on the Dirty Truth website or here.
“This year has been a showcase of Georgia Power’s single-minded focus on serving large load customers like A.I. data centers instead of everyday Georgians,” said Michael Hawthorne, Campaign Organizing Strategist for the Sierra Club. “Despite the overwhelming turnout of Georgia voters pushing for change and electing two clean energy champions to the Public Service Commissions, the establishment commissioners have continued to submit to Georgia Power’s Big Tech aspirations and shareholder profits have seen the approval of the most expensive gas buildout in the nation, the approval of secretive data center contracts, and the consistent failure to protect everyday people from the greed of tech developers and Georgia Power executives. It does not have to be this way. We have seen glimmers of how commissioners can hold Georgia Power accountable to the will of the people. We must fight for the future Georgia deserves: where coal plants are shut down, where clean energy is prioritized, and where data centers are built only when a community wants them– and only when they pay the full costs of serving them.”
“The Dirty Truth report has once again revealed utilities’ overwhelming failure to plan a phase-out of their expensive and dirty fossil fuel infrastructure, and transition to clean energy,” said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. “Every year that utilities drag their feet on the clean energy transition is another year where families pay record bills for expensive fossil fuels, another year of extreme weather events, and another year of air and water pollution threatening our health. We cannot afford to wait any longer to bring our grid into the 21st century. As artificial intelligence data centers drive demand for energy, utility companies are rushing to expensive and dangerous fossil fuels, leading to soaring electricity prices and worsening air pollution. The time is now for these companies to transition to affordable, reliable, clean energy to build a healthier and more sustainable energy future. The Sierra Club will continue to push utilities to deploy more renewable energy and work to lower costs and emissions.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.