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Southern Company (SO) to Miss In-Service Date for Vogtle Unit 3
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The Southern Company’s (SO - Free Report) wholly-owned subsidiary, Georgia Power, postponed the commissioning of the nearly-finished Vogtle 3 nuclear reactor. Notably, Vogtle Unit 3 is one of Georgia Power’s new units at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, currently being developed in the United States.
The Vogtle nuclear expansion project’s latest outage comes after a crucial series of tests on the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle Unit 3 showed complications. While the nuclear reactor is 98% complete, it is still exposed to risks of delays. As a result of this, Georgia Power plans to put Vogtle Unit 3 into service by January 2022 instead of November 2021.
The Vogtle expansion project, the nation's only nuclear power plant under construction, suffered continued timing and cost overrun issues over the years. However, in 2020, plant Vogtle achieved several milestones in the construction of Unit 3, including the completion of cold hydro testing, closed vessel testing and open vessel testing, the structural integrity test, and the integrated leak rate test beside obtaining the unit’s first nuclear fuel shipment.
Recently, Georgia Power executed the hot functional testing for the Vogtle Unit 3 turbine system. Notably, the hot functional test was the last crucial step before fuel load and the new reactor is placed in service. During that period, the utility mentioned that the in-service date of Unit 3 might get postponed because of a finding from additional construction remediation work to address project-related issues, resulting in millions of dollars as penalties.
Above all, Georgia Power mentioned that the problems encountered during the test were mostly predictable and they need to extend testing processes by three weeks longer than it was previously estimated. Moreover, the utility is concerned about the extra expenses that continue to grow with each delay, thereby, hampering the utility’s plan to get all of the nation’s power from non-carbon-emitting sources such as nuclear and renewables by 2035.
Notably, the Vogtle nuclear expansion project is regarded as the largest employment-generating construction project in Georgia, which, once online, is expected to create more than 800 permanent jobs and power more than 500,000 homes and businesses. Georgia Power hopes to maintain the in-service dates for Units 4 in 2022 and aims to deliver clean and reliable energy for customers.
Company Profile & Price Performance
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Southern Company is one of the largest utility companies in the United States.
Shares of this utility have outperformed the industry in the past three months. Its stock has gained 13.6% compared with the industry’s 13% growth.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Southern Company currently carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold).
Otter Tail’s earnings for 2021 are expected to rise 6.9% year over year.
NewJersey Resources’ earnings for 2021 are expected to grow 11.5% year over year.
China Resources’ earnings for 2021 are expected to rise 14.5% year over year.
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Southern Company (SO) to Miss In-Service Date for Vogtle Unit 3
The Southern Company’s (SO - Free Report) wholly-owned subsidiary, Georgia Power, postponed the commissioning of the nearly-finished Vogtle 3 nuclear reactor. Notably, Vogtle Unit 3 is one of Georgia Power’s new units at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, currently being developed in the United States.
The Vogtle nuclear expansion project’s latest outage comes after a crucial series of tests on the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle Unit 3 showed complications. While the nuclear reactor is 98% complete, it is still exposed to risks of delays. As a result of this, Georgia Power plans to put Vogtle Unit 3 into service by January 2022 instead of November 2021.
The Vogtle expansion project, the nation's only nuclear power plant under construction, suffered continued timing and cost overrun issues over the years. However, in 2020, plant Vogtle achieved several milestones in the construction of Unit 3, including the completion of cold hydro testing, closed vessel testing and open vessel testing, the structural integrity test, and the integrated leak rate test beside obtaining the unit’s first nuclear fuel shipment.
Recently, Georgia Power executed the hot functional testing for the Vogtle Unit 3 turbine system. Notably, the hot functional test was the last crucial step before fuel load and the new reactor is placed in service. During that period, the utility mentioned that the in-service date of Unit 3 might get postponed because of a finding from additional construction remediation work to address project-related issues, resulting in millions of dollars as penalties.
Above all, Georgia Power mentioned that the problems encountered during the test were mostly predictable and they need to extend testing processes by three weeks longer than it was previously estimated. Moreover, the utility is concerned about the extra expenses that continue to grow with each delay, thereby, hampering the utility’s plan to get all of the nation’s power from non-carbon-emitting sources such as nuclear and renewables by 2035.
Notably, the Vogtle nuclear expansion project is regarded as the largest employment-generating construction project in Georgia, which, once online, is expected to create more than 800 permanent jobs and power more than 500,000 homes and businesses. Georgia Power hopes to maintain the in-service dates for Units 4 in 2022 and aims to deliver clean and reliable energy for customers.
Company Profile & Price Performance
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Southern Company is one of the largest utility companies in the United States.
Shares of this utility have outperformed the industry in the past three months. Its stock has gained 13.6% compared with the industry’s 13% growth.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Southern Company currently carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked players in the utility space are Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR - Free Report) , NewJersey Resources Corporation (NJR - Free Report) and China Resources Power Holdings Co. (CRPJY - Free Report) , each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Otter Tail’s earnings for 2021 are expected to rise 6.9% year over year.
NewJersey Resources’ earnings for 2021 are expected to grow 11.5% year over year.
China Resources’ earnings for 2021 are expected to rise 14.5% year over year.
Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything
Blockchain and cryptocurrency have sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.
Zacks has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.
See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>