Georgia Power announces locations for four new battery energy storage projects
Georgia Power has revealed the locations for four new battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Georgia, with a combined capacity of 500 MW. These projects are set to provide dispatchable power resources by the winter of 2026/2027, as part of the state’s strategy to enhance grid reliability and cost-efficiency.
The Georgia Public Service Commission approved these sites in 2024 under Georgia Power’s 2023 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Update. The planned BESS facilities include:
- Robins BESS in Bibb County: This facility will have a 128MW capacity and will be co-located with an existing solar facility near Robins Air Force Base.
- Moody BESS in Lowndes County: With a capacity of 49.5MW, this site will be adjacent to Moody Air Force Base.
- Hammond BESS in Floyd County: Utilizing infrastructure from the retired coal-fired Plant Hammond, this project will have a capacity of 57.5MW.
- McGrau Ford Site Phase II BESS in Cherokee County: The largest of the planned projects, this site will have a capacity of 265MW.
These BESS facilities are designed to provide “energy arbitrage” benefits, allowing Georgia Power to optimize energy output and maximize cost savings for customers by shifting energy production according to demand.
Georgia Power is also close to completing the 65MW Mossy Branch battery facility in Talbot County, approved in the 2019 IRP, marking the company’s first BESS resource. Additionally, the McGrau Ford Phase I BESS, approved in the 2022 IRP, is expected to be operational by the end of 2026.
In a separate development, Georgia Power’s Vogtle Unit 3, a nuclear power plant in Burke County, Georgia, began commercial operations in August 2023. The Vogtle plant, which Georgia Power owns along with Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and Dalton Utilities, features two existing units completed in the late 1980s, each generating 1.2GW of power. The new third unit, one of the first new nuclear plants built in the US in thirty years, will add 1.17GW of capacity, enough to power 500,000 homes and businesses.