Originally published in Southern Company's 2023 Sustainability Summary
For more than a century, Southern Company has been building the future of energy and developing a diverse portfolio of energy resources. To accomplish this, we invest heavily in R&D and innovative energy solutions. We lead the U.S. utility industry in the development, funding and demonstration of innovative technologies necessary to provide clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy.
Through collaborative research with the U.S. government, national laboratories, universities, research organizations, other utilities and industry, Southern Company’s R&D team drives energy innovation that will enable customers and communities to thrive as the world changes. Our research is facilitating the transition to a clean energy future by exploring a full spectrum of solutions such as:
- Carbon capture, conversion, removal and storage
- High-potential advanced nuclear technologies
- Hydrogen and renewable natural gas
- Energy storage
- Enhanced natural gas and electric grid resiliency, reliability and flexibility
- Customer end-use innovations like Smart Neighborhoods®
- Low-carbon transportation
Deployment of new and existing technologies requires a comprehensive evaluation of many factors, including affordability, reliability, resource availability and impacts. Southern Company is partnering with EPRI to conduct an analysis of potential environmental factors associated with new technologies, including emissions, land use, water demand and waste generation. The project, launched in April 2023, aims to provide information to aid in decision making and generation planning, inform R&D efforts focused on environmental stewardship and contribute new insights to support the broader industry’s efforts to decarbonize.
We also invest in early-stage energy technology companies and solutions through entities such as our New Ventures organization and Energy Impact Partners.
Supporting Our Customers’ Decarbonization Efforts
In addition to pursuing R&D concepts that support our business, we offer a variety of products, programs and services to meet the needs of our customers. An important objective for many of our residential, commercial and industrial customers is decarbonizing their own footprint. Through energy efficiency programs, energy audits, alternative fuel vehicle programs and innovative partnerships and investments, we support customers by providing a range of solutions.
Spotlight: Energy Impact Partners
Southern Company is a founding partner of Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a utility-backed venture capital fund managing over $4 billion in assets. We leverage EIP to identify emerging trends and startups advancing technologies and business models in the energy sector. Our investment fosters collaboration with industry peers to discover solutions that enhance our operations and meet our customers’ evolving energy needs.
Southern Company is recognized as the most engaged limited partner, based on the number of engagements and solutions deployed. This recognition underscores our commitment to exploring solutions that provide emission reductions, greater operational efficiencies and enhanced customer engagement.
The key to driving impact with innovative solutions lies in engagement, collaboration and action. In 2023 we had:
- 500+ employees engaged in EIP events and reviews, fostering innovation within our team.
- 50+ engagements with other limited partners, gaining valuable industry insights
- 35 innovative solutions introduced or leveraged across the Southern Company system from EIP’s portfolio companies.
New pilots allow us to quickly test and implement innovative solutions for a sustainable energy future.
Advancing Innovative Solutions
Southern Company actively engages with startups focused on the energy transition through investments in venture capital. These investments and engagements provide additional avenues to identify solutions to meet evolving customer expectations.
Our venture capital partner network includes nearly half of the North American investor-owned utility sector and dozens of other global corporate partners leading the energy transition. Our venture capital investments help facilitate collaborations between novel startups and corporate partners in support of accelerating innovation.
From AI-enabled technologies to improve operations and safety to novel long-duration energy storage, we are committed to advancing solutions that support delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to customers.
- Form Energy specializes in grid-scale energy storage and is developing a 15 MW iron-air battery for Georgia Power. This battery provides a 100-hour dispatch long-duration energy storage system. The project is part of Georgia Power’s plan to deploy clean energy systems for grid reliability and resiliency. The collaboration aims to strengthen the local grid against daily, weekly, and seasonal weather variability, as well as extreme weather events.
- Urbint's AI-assisted technology helps predict threats to workers, communities, critical infrastructure and the environment, and helps stop accidents before they happen. Urbint technology has been successfully applied to identify the risk of leaks or third-party damages to underground utilities. Southern Company Gas worked with Urbint to develop a damage prevention solution first deployed at Nicor Gas and later expanded throughout the enterprise. By taking preemptive actions, Nicor Gas was able to increase the efficiency of their current damage prevention team and drive down excavation damages. Georgia Power has also worked with Urbint to pilot a “smart” electronic job safety briefing to assist field crews with hazard analysis.
Accelerating the Southeast Cleantech Ecosystem
Georgia Power's collaboration with ENGAGE, a venture capital entity, has been instrumental in scaling startups by connecting them with corporate partners and aiding in the development of comprehensive commercialization strategies. The Georgia Power Foundation has invested $4.5 million since 2017, fostering growth and expansion.
Techstars, supported by Alabama Power, has helped accelerate the growth of early-stage startups, with a focus on clean technologies. The program's success is evident in the accelerated development of companies and the positive influence on the region's entrepreneurial financing activity.
“At Southern Company, our dedication to innovation is deeply embedded in our mission to pioneer transformative solutions for a sustainable energy future. As customer expectations evolve, we recognize the invaluable role of emerging clean tech companies such as those affiliated with Energy Impact Partners in helping us explore new avenues for sustainability—both for our customers and within our own operations.”
- Hank Adams, Senior Vice President of Customer Solutions, Southern Company
