Power plants in the Southern Company balancing area

The Southern Company balancing area takes in 335 power plants with 70.6 GW of nameplate capacity, the sixth-largest of the 40 areas covered here. Its plants sit in five states, with Georgia holding 58% of the capacity. Natural gas makes up 51% of the mix, and the largest plant is Vogtle (4,658 MW). Since 2020, 7,915 MW has come online here, 50% of it solar.

Natural gas36,340 MW51%
Coal12,235 MW17%
Nuclear8,282 MW12%
Solar5,825 MW8.3%
Hydroelectric3,318 MW4.7%
Biomass and waste1,690 MW2.4%
Oil and petroleum1,430 MW2.0%
Pumped-storage hydro1,307 MW1.9%
Battery storage149 MW0.2%
Other sources8.5 MW0.0%

Capacity by decade it came online

NuclearCoalNatural gasOil and petroleumHydroelectricPumped-storage hydroSolarBattery storageBiomass and wasteOther sources

Above the line: capacity operating in 2025. Below: capacity retired at plants that still run.

The 25 largest plants in the area

Rank	Plant	State	Runs on	Capacity	First unit
1	Vogtle	Georgia	Nuclear	4,658 MW	1987
2	Bowen	Georgia	Coal	3,499 MW	1971
3	Barry	Alabama	Natural gas	3,344 MW	1954
4	Jack McDonough	Georgia	Natural gas	2,848 MW	1971
5	James H Miller Jr	Alabama	Coal	2,822 MW	1978
6	Scherer	Georgia	Coal	2,673 MW	1982
7	Victor J Daniel Jr	Mississippi	Natural gas	2,229 MW	1977
8	E C Gaston	Alabama	Natural gas	2,034 MW	1960
9	H Allen Franklin Combined Cycle	Alabama	Natural gas	1,996 MW	2002
10	Edwin I Hatch	Georgia	Nuclear	1,848 MW	1975
11	Joseph M Farley	Alabama	Nuclear	1,776 MW	1977
12	McIntosh Combined Cycle Facility	Georgia	Natural gas	1,377 MW	2005
13	E B Harris Electric Generating Plant	Alabama	Natural gas	1,304 MW	2003
14	Greene County	Alabama	Natural gas	1,288 MW	1965
15	Wansley Combined Cycle	Georgia	Natural gas	1,239 MW	2002
16	Thomas A Smith Energy Facility	Georgia	Natural gas	1,192 MW	2002
17	Tenaska Georgia Generation Facility	Georgia	Natural gas	1,099 MW	2001
18	Tenaska Lindsay Hill Generating Station	Alabama	Natural gas	939 MW	2002
19	Central Alabama Generating Station	Alabama	Natural gas	927 MW	2003
20	Jack Watson	Mississippi	Natural gas	919 MW	1968
21	Dahlberg	Georgia	Natural gas	919 MW	2000
22	Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Plant	Georgia	Pumped-storage hydro	848 MW	1995
23	Ratcliffe	Mississippi	Natural gas	840 MW	2014
24	Hillabee Energy Center	Alabama	Natural gas	823 MW	2010
25	McIntosh	Georgia	Natural gas	810 MW	1994

States

State	Plants	Capacity
Georgia	251	41.2 GW
Alabama	62	24.5 GW
Mississippi	15	4,578 MW
Florida	6	310 MW
Massachusetts	1	1.5 MW

Operators with the most capacity

Operator	Plants	Capacity
Georgia Power Co	43	20.9 GW
Alabama Power Co	27	16.2 GW
Southern Power Co	11	6,563 MW
Oglethorpe Power Corporation	11	6,472 MW
Mississippi Power Co	6	4,204 MW
PowerSouth Energy Cooperative	5	2,071 MW
USCE-Mobile District	7	1,142 MW
Tenaska Georgia Partners LP	1	1,099 MW
CER Generation LLC	1	823 MW
CAMS (Georgia) Washington County Power	1	796 MW