Georgia Power announced earlier this week that plant equipment for Vogtle’s Unit 4 is now “energized, or permanently powered,” in a press release.
The final step is performing all subsequent testing on Unit 4, which along with Unit 3, makes up Vogtle’s latest expansion.
MORE: Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle Expansion Pushed Back Again
After a set of delays, hot functional testing began on Unit 3 in late April. Georgia Power announced in March that Unit 3’s target service date of November 2021 likely would be pushed back, and “Any schedule extension beyond November 2021 for Unit 3 is currently estimated to result in additional base capital costs for Georgia Power of approximately $25 million per month,” according to an SEC filing from mid-March.
Scheduling delays and ballooning budgets are not uncommon at Vogtle. When the first two natural draft cooling reactors — Unit 1 and Unit 2 — were being constructed in 1987 and 1989, respectively, the estimated cost for capital investors was $660 million dollars. The cost at the end of it all was an estimated $8.87 billion.
MORE: Plant Vogtle Expansion Hits Two Key Milestones
The two new units are Vogtle are “part of Georgia Power’s commitment to delivering safe, clean, reliable and affordable energy for customers and play a significant role in supporting Southern Company’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” according to the latest press release.
Once online, the two new units will be equipped to power over 500,000 homes and businesses. The site employs nearly 7,000 workers, and more than 800 permanent jobs will be available once the units are fully operational, according to the release. That makes Vogtle Units 3 and 4 the largest jobs-producing construction project in Georgia.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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