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Plant McDonough manager Tony Tramonte, center, leadsa tour of the site.

Photos: Georgia Power / Christopher Moore.

Plant McDonough celebrates start of new era

In the shadow of the stack at Georgia Power’s Plant McDonough-Atkinson, more than 250 people gathered to mark

the end of one era for the plant, and celebrate the start of another.

In the crowd, current and former plant

employees, company employees and

executives, and members of the Atkinson and

McDonough families looked back at a plant that

is going through its third phase of electric

generation.

“We celebrate the past of these plants and look forward to the future,” said Tony Tramonte, McDonough-Atkinson

plant manager.

The plant is converting from a coal-fueled electric generator to a natural gas-fired generator. The two coal units, 1 and

2, have been retired, and three 840-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle units are replacing the two units.

Unit 4 went into commercial operation in December 2011. The second and third natural gas units, 5 and 6, are

expected to enter commercial operation in May and November, respectively.

The change represents the third phase of a plant that has one of the most unusual histories in the Georgia Power

system.

Besides being located just outside of the city limits of Atlanta in Cobb County, the generating site is the only site in

the Georgia Power system that had two plants built directly across from each other. Plant Atkinson was built in 1930

and named for Georgia Power founder Henry Atkinson. Plant McDonough, named for former company president and

CEO Jack McDonough, was built across from Atkinson in 1964.

“This is a precious plant, and the name of the plant tells you how much it means to the company,” said Stan

Connally, senior vice president and senior production officer.

When Plant Atkinson was constructed in 1930, it signified a change in the company’s plans for generating electricity.

Prior to its construction, Georgia Power depended on hydro and steam to power its plants. From that point, coal

became the dominant fossil fuel generating source.

The construction of Plant McDonough and its two coal-fired units added to the company’s electric generating

capacity, and it distinguished itself by being the first plant in the Southern Company system to use a digital computer

to measure plant components performance efficiency. The innovation paid off in 1991 when the plant received national

recognition for efficient operations.

As Georgia Power added plants and efficiency and generating capacity grew, the need for the older Plant Atkinson

decreased. In 2003, Georgia Power demolished Atkinson.

Now, Plant McDonough is seeing its past give way to the future: natural gas. The existing coal units at McDonough

will be retired and demolished.

The combined-cycle units feature Mitsubishi 501G-1 gas turbines, the first of their kind for any Southern Company

subsidiary. These state-of-the-art turbines will help the units generate to a total capacity of 2,500 megawatts when
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completed, nearly five times the plant's current output of 540 megawatts.

The natural gas units are expected to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide by 99 percent, nitrogen oxides by 95 percent

and mercury by 100 percent. The plant is also expected to achieve a 50-percent reduction in the production rate of

carbon dioxide on a per-megawatt basis.

Though the past of the two plants will be demolished and removed from the site, Georgia Power president and CEO

Paul Bowers said the past will always be part of the plant.

“We will always honor the past and the plant will retain the name McDonough-Atkinson,” said Bowers.

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