JEA announced April 29 that Unit 4 of the Plant Vogtle nuclear facility is supplying power to JEA customers.
The city-owned utility said in a news release that Georgia Power announced that the reactor entered commercial operation. The development came just shy of 10 months after the facility’s Unit 3 reactor began supplying energy to local ratepayers in late July 2023.
“JEA customers are now receiving carbon-free nuclear energy from Plant Vogtle’s Units 3 and 4 to help power our community. This marks a big step for nuclear energy in our country and a key milestone for JEA as we work toward our clean energy goals,” JEA Interim Managing Director and CEO Vickie Cavey said in the release. “We will continue to diversify our portfolio to provide sustainable and reliable energy.”
JEA said Units 3 and 4 combined would provide about 13% of the utility’s energy mix. Plant Vogtle is part of a JEA integrated resource plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its power generation facilities, with a goal of providing 35% clean energy by 2030.
Plant Vogtle is in Waynesboro, Georgia, about 220 miles north of Jacksonville. Its first two units went online in 1987 and 1989, respectively. The completion of Units 3 and 4 marked the first newly constructed nuclear reactors to enter service in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
JEA is under a long-term agreement to purchase power from Vogtle at about $250 million per year over the next 20 years. That cost reflects delays and cost overruns in the construction of the $35 billion plant.
Vogtle is owned jointly by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities, according to a media guide available at Georgia Power’s website. JEA is not part of the ownership group but agreed to a purchase power agreement with MEAG in 2008.