Oglethorpe Power Corporation is a medium-sized electric utility in Georgia, United States. Formed in 1974, Oglethorpe is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

cooperative owned by the 38 electric membership corporations that it serves. The utility's headquarters are in Tucker, Georgia.

History

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) provided loans for building transmission lines in rural areas, and EMCs were created in Georgia to purchase power from various sources. In 1974, 39 Georgia-based EMCs incorporated Oglethorpe Power Corporation to invest in generating capacities and transmission lines. In 1996, Oglethorpe Power signed a 15-year, $4-5 billion deal with

LG&E Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) is a utilities company based in Louisville, Kentucky. A subsidiary of PPL Corporation through the LG&E and KU Energy subsidiary, LG&E serves over 429,000 electric and over 333,000 natural gas customers, covers an are ...

to receive half of its electricity needs from the Kentucky-based power supplier, with a locked down price on the coal-fired megawatt that LG&E must maintain. In 1997, Ogelthorpe restructured into three separate, but interrelated, cooperatives. Oglethorpe Power Corporation handles electricity generation, Georgia Transmission Corporation owns and operates the

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

lines and substations and Georgia System Operations Corporation provides system and administrative support. In September 2008, Oglethorpe Power announced the construction of a massive woody biomass power plant (two 100-megawatt-per-year, carbon-neutral facilities) to power nearly half of Georgia's population. In 2017, the turmoil surrounding the failed deliveries of nuclear reactors by bankrupted Westinghouse put Oglethorpe Power at the forefront of the country's nuclear crisis.

Activity

Oglethorpe Power is the largest power supply cooperative in the United States based upon assets and annual

kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

sales. The utility's service area covers 65 percent of the state of Georgia. Ogelthorpe co-owns several of its plants with

Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolida ...

(largest electricity supplier in the state) and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia. Oglethorpe's power plants has an annual revenue of $1 billion and assets of over $7 billion, and 4.1 million customers (2011). About 24% of the capacity is coal, 47% natural gas, 19%

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space * Nuclear ...

and 10%

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power (2009). Oglethorpe Power owns 817 megawatts of the 1,095-megawatt

Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Plant The Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Plant is a pumped-storage power plant located northwest of Rome in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is named after Rock Mountain on top of which the plant's upper reservoir is located. Construction on the plant began ...

, a pure pumped-storage hydroelectric plant that stores energy during periods of low electricity demand and produces electricity during periods of high demand. The utility's nuclear power comes from its partial ownership of the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Generating Station and the

Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant The Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, also known as Plant Vogtle (), is a two-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. It is named after a former Alabama Power and S ...

. It has partial ownership of two coal plants and full ownership of 3

combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

power plants and several gas turbine power plants. Oglethorpe is a 30% partner in the project to build two new AP1000 nuclear reactors at Vogtle, and has $3 billion of Department of Energy loan guarantees for the project. In 2018 it sought more loan guarantees to cover cost overruns on the project. Lead partner

agreed to pay an additional proportion of any project completion costs beyond $9.2 billion.

Governance

There is a Board of Directors that has directors and managers from EMCs (Electric Membership Cooperative) and an independent director. There is also the Leadership, which has a President, a Vice President, Senior Vice Presidents, and Executive Vice Presidents.

Leadership

Board of directors

{, class="wikitable" , - , Marshall S. Millwood{{cite web , title=Board of Directors - About Our Company , url=https://opc.com/about/our-company/ , website=Oglethorpe Power , access-date=27 September 2022 , , Chairman,

Sawnee EMC Sawnee EMC (SEMC; founded as Forsyth County EMC) is an electrical generation and transmission cooperative founded in July 1938 and based in Cumming, Georgia. , Sawnee EMC is the third-largest electric co-op in Georgia and the eighth-largest in th ...

, - , James I. White , , Vice Chairman, Snapping Shoals EMC , - , George L. Weaver , , Central Georgia EMC , - , Randy Crenshaw , , Irwin EMC, Middle Georgia EMC , - , Fred A. McWhorter , , Rayle EMC , - , Ernest A. “Chip” Jakins III , , Jackson EMC , - , Jeffrey W. Murphy , , Hart EMC , - , Sam Simonton , , Walton EMC , - , Danny Nichols , , Colquitt EMC , - , Horace H. Weathersby III, , Planters EMC , - , Jimmy G. Bailey , , Diverse Power , - , Wm. Ronald Duffey , , Outside Director

References

Energy Information Administration

External links

Oglethorpe Power Corporation
* Electric generation and transmission cooperatives in the United States Companies based in Tucker, Georgia Energy companies established in 1974 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1974 Energy in Georgia (U.S. state)