Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP: Further shift towards battery storage

State resourcing plans are increasingly updating battery energy storage systems (BESS) plans, especially those tied to solar.
Image: Neoen

US utility Georgia Power has filed its 2025 update to its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the first update since 2023 showing further acceleration in the utility’s adoption of (BESS).

Georgia serves as the eighth most populous US state and a major economic hub in the Southeastern United States. IRPs are long-term planning reports that are considered and approved by state regulators in many states, with some notable exceptions, such as in Texas and its unique grid.

These IRPs can be examined individually, or tracked and reviewed to understand broad changes. In Georgia, while energy demand growth doesn’t exactly correlate with an increase in gross domestic output (GDP), the state is expecting both.

Over the next six years, the utility projects approximately 8.2 GW of electrical load growth, up more than 2.2 GW overall when compared to projections in its 2023 IRP Update, an update that was approved by the Georgia state body, the Public Service Commission or PSC, in April 2024.

Accordingly, Georgia Power is planning for more generation, with ongoing investment into existing power plants, including nuclear, and integration of more natural gas, while adding 4 GW of renewable resources, boosting the proposed portfolio to around 11 GW by 2035. That indicates new additions of 1.1 GW in renewables.

Grid-scale BESS boost

At the same time, procurement of energy from new battery energy storage (BESS) projects is also expected to be a part of all-source capacity Request for Proposals or RFPs, building on the company’s current plans to add more than 1,500 MW of BESS in the coming years, said Georgia Power.

Georgia Power plans to add over 2,065 MW of BESS and combustion turbine resources by the end of 2027. Part of the allocation and identification of sites took place last year in Georgia for 500 MW/ 2 GWh of new BESS.

The company has already initiated evaluations of its Winter 2027/2028 BESS RFP and the All-Source Capacity RFP for 2029-2031, with further procurements possible for additional resources.

Also notable is that Georgia Power is looking at longer duration energy storage, with 3,000 MW per year of 4-hour energy storage is projected to be added starting in 2028, while 3,000 MW per year of 12-hour energy storage is planned from 2033​.

Small-scale BESS boost

The company also detailed the necessary addition of storage to solar sites, saying that adoption of solar+storage versus solar-only generation at sites is currently at 17%. The IRP indicates a greater effort to encourage adoption of BESS-coupled systems, by proposing a new portfolio of “solar-plus-storage options for customer generators,” aiming to encourage BESS-coupled systems. A primary aim is to minimize cost shifts to customers without solar generation.

This includes launching a “Customer-Sited Solar Plus Storage Pilot Program” for residential and small commercial customers, pairing BESS with behind-the-meter (BTM) solar. The plan proposes two options for participants – quote:

  1. “Customer Directed” model in which the Company will identify discrete events and pay participating customers based on their performance during those events;
  2. A “Company Directed” option in which participating customers will make BESS available to the Company for continuous operation in exchange for a larger upfront incentive that is calculated based on the value their facility provides to the electric system.

The program and its occasional vs continuous operation options would be open to residential customers with systems up to 20 kW and small commercial customers (≤250 kW peak load) with systems up to 250 kW, if approved.

Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, said: “At Georgia Power, our vision extends far beyond today — we plan for tomorrow, the next 10 years and decades to come. As Georgia continues to grow, this state is well-positioned for the future thanks to proactive planning, policies, and processes like the Integrated Resource Plan.”

“Through the IRP process,” added Greene, “we not only consider how we make and move electricity, but also how to leverage the latest customer insights to develop programs that help our customers meet their unique needs and use energy more efficiently.”

Georgia Power first examined energy storage in its 2019 IRP, with approval to build, own and operate 80 MW of BESS at the time.

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