POWER August 2022 - 20

UTILITY SPOTLIGHT
Southern Company:
A History of a Prolific Power
Technology Pioneer
Atlanta-based energy giant Southern Co. has rapidly evolved to keep in step with
the evolution of power. As part of its corporate growth, the company has notably
pioneered technologies that have reshaped diverse fields, including those related to
coal, natural gas, and nuclear.
Sonal Patel
he history of Southern Company,
an Atlanta-based energy giant that
has for seven decades fueled an
elaborate economic engine that spans
three Southeastern states, is often pinpointed
to a single moment. It was in
November 1911 when James Mitchell,
a gifted engineer and a reputable developer
of big projects, set sight on Cherokee
Bluffs, a hard-to-reach point on the
Tallapoosa River in Alabama. Mitchell's
vision was grand: to transfer the secluded
site into a 40,000-acre lake and create
the world's largest artificial reservoir, and
to follow that with a series of dams and
powerhouses in other Alabama rivers.
" He envisioned an electric supply system
and a regional grid that could serve
energy markets across the Southeast, "
wrote Dub Taft and Sam Heys in their
2011-published chronicle Big Bets: Decisions
and Leaders That Shaped Southern
Company. " In essence, James Mitchell
dreamed Southern Company. "
Mitchell's dream quickly evolved into
an initial holding company, Alabama Traction,
Light & Power Co., which led to an
organized evolution of a host of smaller
energy companies, including Alabama
Power. In the 1920s, Tom Martin, a southern
lawyer, expanded that dream by replacing
Alabama Traction, Light & Power
Co. with a broader holding company,
Southeastern Power & Light, and moved
to acquire utilities in Alabama, Georgia,
South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida.
That holding company was acquired by
Commonwealth and Southern (C&S) in
1929. It endured a subsequent restructuring,
which allowed the company to
hold up during the Great Depression. But
it also ushered in a period of profound
influence and determination driven by
Wendell L. Willkie, who became CEO
and president of C&S in 1934. Willkie is
T
20
A Long History of Innovation
Southern Co.'s mission to economically
and reliably meet soaring power
demand has fueled its dramatic transformation
into the diversified investor-owned
giant it is today. To bolster
post-war economic growth in the
Southeast, Southern Co. doubled its
power generating in the decade between
1947 and 1957, building more
extensive and more efficient coal-fired
power plants. After struggling to face
challenges in keeping up with breakneck
growth through the 1960s, it created
a research department in 1969 to
leverage rapidly evolving technological
advances. The in-house effort to
bolster innovation has driven the development
of several pioneering technologies
that the power world uses
widely today.
In the early 1970s, the company
began developing solvent refining, a
process for " cleaning " coal before
combustion, and it also began research
into advanced flue gas processing,
including to develop scrubbers. In
credited for keeping C&S from financial
ruin amidst a crumbling economy. Willkie,
who would later run for U.S. president
against Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt
in 1940, also notably launched a
stiff fight against the New Deal's federally
subsidized power and stood ground
in a brutal legal fight to limit an expansion
by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
After a series of divestitures that
solidified its financial grounding, the
Securities and Exchange Commission
approved the formation of Southern Co.
as the parent of Alabama Power, Georgia
Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi
Power. Southern Co. continued its expansion
during the post-war economic
boom and in the 1970s despite financial
www.powermag.com
the aftermath of the oil crisis, it began
a 500-kW solar-powered facility to
evaluate the performance of solar on
a large scale. In the 1980s, it tested
methods to improve fly ash collection
in electrostatic precipitators, completed
the world's first parabolic trough installation,
and tested coal liquefaction
and gasification. And in the 1990s, it
hosted a 250-MW demonstration of
low-nitrogen oxide burners at Plant
Gaston, launched an electric vehicle
research center, and tested microturbine
technology.
The drive for innovation has continued
through the past 20 years. More
prevalent projects include carbon capture
tests at Plant Barry-including a
more recent effort with GE to explore
carbon capture, utilization, and storage
for existing natural gas plants. On the
nuclear front, Southern Co. has spearheaded
testing of accident tolerant fuels
and has partnered with TerraPower
to design, construct, and operate the
Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment
(MCRE)-the world's first critical fastspectrum
salt reactor.
turbulence (see sidebar " A Long History
of Innovation " ).
A Model for Resource Diversity
Today, Southern Co. is an Atlanta-based
holding company that owns all outstanding
common stock of three traditional
vertically integrated state-regulated
electric utilities-Alabama Power, Georgia
Power, and Mississippi Power. Each
operates public utility companies that
provide electric service to retail customers
in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi,
and wholesale customers in the
Southeast. The three utilities are part of
the North American Electric Reliability
Corp.'s SERC reliability region. Southern
Co. is also notably part of a filing at the
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POWER August 2022

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