Dive Brief:

• Large energy customers of Georgia Power can bring their own clean energy resources online to support operations under a framework state regulators approved last week on a unanimous vote.
• The Customer Identified Resource program enables large customers to pay for clean energy resources in exchange for renewable energy certificates and credit for the energy value of the resource, according to the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which advocated for the program. The framework allows up to 3 GW of customer-identified resources through 2035, representing the majority of Georgia Power’s plan to procure 4 GW of new renewables over the same time period.  
• Eligible projects can be located in other states as long as they can deliver power to Georgia Power under an approved interconnection framework, Jamie Barber, director of the Georgia Public Service Commission’s energy efficiency and renewable energy unit, told Utility Dive in an email.

Dive Insight:

Nidhi Thakar, CEBA’s vice president for policy, hailed the new bring-your-own-resource program as “the first of many that can scale nationally to bring new energy resources to the system more quickly,” in a statement.

“We see this fantastic opportunity for utility partnership to better devise programs where our members want to be part of the solution for meeting surging demand … by bringing clean resources to the system while supporting critical infrastructure investments needed in our grid,” Thakar said.

The CIR program builds on Georgia Power’s Clean and Renewable Energy Subscription program, CEBA said. That program allows customers purchase a subscription for a pro-rata share of the production of renewable resources procured through the company’s utility-scale renewable requests for proposals process, and then the utility retires the RECs on the customer’s behalf.

Under the new program, customers would submit projects as part of a second round of requests for proposals under the Clean and Renewable Energy Subscription program, the Georgia PSC’s Barber told Utility Dive. The first RFP round remains in development, with a “short list” of selected projects forthcoming, Barber added.

Though Georgia Power’s large customer pipeline has shrunk since early 2025, the utility told regulators in November that it sees more than 50 GW of new commercial and industrial load coming online over the next several years. In February, its parent company raised its five-year capital spending plan from $76 billion to $81 billion to support growth in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. 

Also in February, the U.S. Department of Energy and Southern Co. closed on the largest loan in DOE history, a $26.5 billion package that will support nearly 6 GW of new or uprated gas capacity as well as transmission, grid enhancements and other assets, according to the department. 

Georgia Power’s most recent IRP, approved in July, extends through 2038 the service lives of two coal-fired power plants with about 4 GW of combined nameplate capacity that had been slated to close in 2028 and 2035. It also allows Georgia Power to procure up to 4 GW of renewable resources and more than 1.5 GW of battery storage.

State policymakers and regulators are increasingly looking to the companies behind new data centers and manufacturing facilities to substantially cover costs for the new generation and transmission infrastructure needed to support the facilities. 

Minnesota, for example, passed a law last year intended to insulate residential ratepayers from costs associated with data center development. This winter, Google said it would fund 700 MW of wind and battery capacity for Minnesota Power and nearly 2 GW of wind, solar and battery capacity for Xcel Energy to support two large-scale data center projects in the state.

In Georgia, the CIR program would likewise see large customers funding their own energy resources, Priya Barua, director of utility partnerships and innovation for CEBA, said in a statement.

“This new program gives large customers the opportunity to better match their loads with large-scale, customer-funded clean energy resources, ensuring companies with high energy demands can contribute meaningfully to the broader electricity system,” Barua said.