Georgia Power pioneers 'green bonds' market

Atlanta-based Georgia Power says it has completed the issuance of $325 million worth of Green Bonds, and calls itself “the first retail electric utility in the United States to offer this type of security to support investment in sustainable [power] generation.”

The company says offering the new Green Bonds “is the latest way [of] supporting renewable development in Georgia, including solar, wind and biomass” power applications.

“The issuance of these bonds will help us bring more renewable energy to the state while ensuring reliability and keeping our rates low for customers,” says Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power.

The company says its renewable energy portfolio represents “a diverse, balanced generation mix [that] includes solar, wind and biomass.”

In Albany, Georgia, the utility is part of a Procter & Gamble (P&G) 50-megawatt biomass project that will help power one of P&G’s paper towel and tissue plants.

P&G describes the feedstock for the biomass plant as materials “that would otherwise have been left to decay, burned or potentially sent to landfill."