Southern CEO says extending coal among options to meet AI demand

The booming demand for electricity from data centers and new factories requires an “all of the above” energy strategy that opens up the possibility of Southern Co. extending the retirement date of one of its coal plants, said CEO Chris Womack.

“As we look at responding to demand growth, looking at coal operating longer is a consideration,” Womack said. “Maybe those units get extended further into the next decade before they retire,” he said referring to units at a Georgia plant.

Womack emphasized in an interview Tuesday at the EEI Financial Conference in Florida that any plant retirement decisions would be submitted to Southern’s regulators and require their approval. He also said that the Atlanta-based company’s target to be net-zero on carbon emissions by 2050 remains unchanged.

US utilities are racing to find — or preserve — power sources that can help meet what is now expected to be a big bump in demand from data centers powering artificial intelligence, electric cars and domestic factories. One option is to keep old fossil-fuel plants open longer than expected or planned, which would further complicate the fight against global warming. Already, some utilities have discarded or are considering scrapping their climate targets.

Womack said that rising power demand provides a rationale to delay coal retirements and the potential end to certain power-plant emission rules under a Trump administration could make it easier to run those plants longer into the future.

Southern facilities under consideration for extension are coal-fired units at Plant Bowen in Georgia. Plant Bowen doesn’t currently have a set retirement date, according to the company. Southern subsidiary Georgia Power proposed retiring Bowen units 1 and 2 by the end of 2028 but regulators ordered that those unit retirements instead be put forth in its resource plan next year, according to a regulatory filing.