Solar energy started to emerge in Georgia in 2012. Coincidentally, that was around the same time that Southern Company began construction on Plant Vogtle nuclear units 3 and 4.
Plant Vogtle Unit 3 became operational earlier this year and Unit 4 is expected to be online by Q1 of 2024. However, when the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) certified these units for construction back in 2009, they were expected to be completed in 2016 and 2017. The fact that they are seven years past due and more than double the original budget has been well documented.
Over that same period while Vogtle 3 & 4 have been under construction, 4,500 MW of solar capacity (MW) has been developed in Georgia and at just 1/5 the cost of those two Vogtle units. By comparison, Vogtle 3 & 4 will eventually provide 2,200 MW of capacity for Georgia.
Before you retort “But the sun doesn’t shine all the time” — I am well aware. That, too, has been explored rather extensively. I’ll refer you to this enlightening podcast by Volts: What? The sun isn’t always shining?!
It is indeed constructive to consider the amount of energy generated (MWh) from solar in addition to the overall capacity (MW) constructed. Although nuclear units generally produce power for more hours in a day than solar projects do, that is only true after construction is finished.
Those solar units have been already generating for years, with even more solar planned to come online in the coming years. Meanwhile, Vogtle 3 just started generating this year (with Vogtle 4 further delayed until 2024). It got me wondering: how long will it take those new nuclear units (operating 24 hours per day) to produce as much electricity as solar units have already produced and are expected to produce into the future?
Spoiler Alert: Vogtle 3 & 4 won’t catch up!
If Vogtle 3 & 4 had been completed on-time, the situation could have been different. Nuclear output would have had the lead after 2016 and it would have taken until 2032 before the expected cumulative solar output eclipsed nuclear.
But because of the multi-year delays in starting up Vogtle 3 & 4, solar has built up such a lead that the new nuclear units may never catch up. And since the plans in Georgia forecast continued solar buildout with no new nuclear plants currently planned — even with continuous operation, the cumulative output from those new nukes will never exceed the cumulative output from solar.
This graph shows the output for Georgia Power’s share of Vogtle 3 & 4 (45.7% = 1 GW) compared to the generation from solar projects supplying the Georgia Power system (3 GW now, and continuing to grow).

The closest the Vogtle 3 & 4 output comes is in 2025 when those units are fully dispatched and new solar buildout (already approved) is continuing but not yet operational. By 2026, the annual output of solar is expected to exceed the annual output of Vogtle 3 & 4; so from that point onward, the cumulative margin of victory for solar will only increase.
As clean energy advocates, SACE anticipates even further and faster expansion of solar as we approach 2030 and beyond. This is precisely what climate science indicates is necessary.
The post Solar has been quietly running up the score during delayed Vogtle 3 & 4 construction appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Solar has been quietly running up the score during delayed Vogtle 3 & 4 construction
Renewable Energy
New ACORE Investor Survey Report Kicks Off 2026 Finance Forum
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Press Releases
New ACORE Investor Survey Report Kicks Off 2026 Finance Forum
New York City, NY – A new report from ACORE shows that clean energy investors and developers largely plan to increase their investments in 2026 but cite policy, regulatory, and interconnection uncertainty as the biggest risks to their investment strategy after this year.
In its Navigating Uncertainty: Clean Energy Investment Trends (2026-2029) report, ACORE shares market sentiment analysis gathered from surveys of 36 leaders at U.S. and multinational companies that invested billions in the U.S. clean energy market in 2025.
Topline takeaways from the report include:
- Respondents identified federal regulatory and policy risks and interconnection uncertainty and costs as the top risks facing clean energy investments.
- Capital providers continue to view utility-scale solar and energy storage as the two most attractive clean energy technologies for investment.
- Despite declining attractiveness of the U.S. as a venue for clean energy investment compared to previous years, respondents said they plan to develop and finance more American clean energy projects in 2026 than they did in 2025.
- Policy and investment uncertainty clouds the trajectory post-2026, with the potential for additional roadblocks to financing and developing clean energy infrastructure.
This report complements the Clean Energy Investment Trends report released last month that S&P Global prepared for ACORE.
“ACORE’s recent reports highlight a common thread: the U.S. clean energy sector remains capitalized and ready to help deliver electricity reliability and affordability for American consumers,” said ACORE President and CEO Ray Long. “Our sector is thriving and poised to meet this moment of significant electricity demand growth, but investors and developers need policy certainty to deliver on this critical infrastructure for American energy security.”
ACORE released the report at its annual Finance Forum in New York City today and discussed the takeaways during the opening panel with ACORE Senior Vice President for Policy Lesley Hunter, Avangrid CEO Jose Antonio Miranda, and S&P Global CERA Consulting Director Christopher Wilfong.
Please email communications@acore.org if you’d like to view the recording of the first panel or set up an interview with ACORE about the report. Register here to tune in to the other panels.
ACORE will host a member-only webinar to discuss both reports on May 21, 2026. Learn more about becoming an ACORE member here.
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About ACORE:
ACORE is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that operates at the intersection of affordability, reliability, and clean energy deployment. Our work is focused on stabilizing energy prices, strengthening the electric grid, and driving investment in cost-effective technologies to ensure that clean energy delivers for people, businesses, and the U.S. economy.
ACORE’s membership includes clean energy investors, developers, energy buyers, power generators, manufacturers, and energy providers. In 2024, nearly 80% of the booming utility-scale domestic clean energy growth was financed, developed, owned, equipped, or contracted by ACORE members.
Media Contacts:
Chris Higginbotham
higginbotham@acore.org
Sophie Stover
communications@acore.org
The post New ACORE Investor Survey Report Kicks Off 2026 Finance Forum appeared first on ACORE.
https://acore.org/news/new-acore-investor-survey-report-kicks-off-2026-finance-forum/
Renewable Energy
ICE Terrorizing Americans
As shown at left, we still have judges who are fighting to prevent the United States from becoming a fascist nation.
I remain amazed that there aren’t more deaths associated with masked ICE agents attempting to arrest people, especially in their homes. Imagine this:
An American, say John Doe, has a loaded shotgun in his home office closet, where he’s writing blog posts, or whatever.
A masked man, visibly armed, with no warrant for his arrest rings the doorbell and tells his wife who’s answered the door, that he’s there for John.
John overhears the conversation, takes his gun, walks down the hallway, swings around toward the front door, and puts a hole in the intruder’s chest the size of a grapefruit.
Again, I can’t imagine why there isn’t more blood spurting out of the bodies of masked terrorist thugs operating illegally.
Renewable Energy
Ayn Rand Is No Longer a “Thing” — Here’s Why
A reader asks:
Isn’t it time for the Libertarians to cast aside the whole myth of objectivism championed by Ayn Rand? She said we should be realists, so let’s be real and see her for who she really was … a women who when she got sick, and push came to shove, cashed the checks.
To put this into perspective, Ayn Rand:
Was a considerable “thing” in the mid-20th Century. I was one of millions of young people who read “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” and accepted libertarianism at the time.
Her way of thinking evaporated, for most of us anyway, when we realized that unbridled greed was eventually going to cause the demise of humankind on this planet.
The actual root cause of this demise was unclear, but as the years passed, environmental collapse became the prime suspect. Rich people obviously couldn’t care less about climate change, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, or desertification.
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