JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA set new goals at a board meeting on Tuesday to make the electric utility company more environmentally friendly in seven years. But it could come at a cost to customers.
The JEA Northside Generating Station off of Heckscher Drive will undergo some major changes as part of JEA’s goal to become more environmentally friendly.
Currently, the plant’s coal is used as well as natural gas to generate electricity, but the plan is to reconfigure it.
“In the coming years, we will make plans on what the generation mix ought to look like,” JEA CEO Jay Stowe said. “But it will include more natural gas and less carbon-emitting resources.”
On Tuesday, the board approved that 35% of their electricity will come from clean energy by using solar and gas. It’s currently only 4%.
They also plan to retire less efficient power generation, meaning portions of the Northside Generating Station.
All JEA facilities will use “Clean Energy” solar or some other type of energy, and they will increase Energy Efficiency to offset the growing demand for electricity.
These goals all come down to something that affects all JEA customers — money.
“That’s the other piece of this plan that we have to figure out the cost is we have to keep our rates affordable while competing with the need to be renewable and sustainable,” Stowe said. “And so we’re going to balance those things and manage our rates as best we can.”
News4JAX also learned the nuclear power plant under construction in Georgia that has JEA on the hook for billions of dollars is about to come online next month, giving us cleaner energy. But that’s also going to cost you.
“We have ongoing plans to have more discussions about rates and probably another rate change in April of next year and April of the next year, in April the next year,” Stowe said.
Plans are also in the works to add four solar power facilities as well, and while all these goals are steps that environmentalists applaud — many speaking said it needs to go much further and faster.
JEA plans to hold a public forum next month to get more input on where it’s heading. It will guide them not only for the next seven years but for several decades down the line.