Oglethorpe Power replanting trees for carbon credits

subscribe

Tucker, Georgia-based Oglethorpe Power Corp. will replant up to 500 acres of forestland in an agreement that will give the electric cooperative credits for the carbon dioxide those new trees will capture.

The replanting project will take place in a 33,000-acre state forest near the Okefenokee Swamp, a portion of southeastern Georgia that was devastated by wildfires two years ago.

Officials from Oglethorpe and the Georgia Forestry Commission, partners in the project, announced the initiative at an environmental conference in Savannah.

“We believe that planting more trees to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is an important part of addressing the climate change issue while also restoring our valuable forestlands and providing important wildlife habitat,” said Michael W. Price, Oglethorpe’s chief operating officer.

Under the plan, Oglethorpe will gain title to the carbon dioxide the replanted trees remove from the air for the first 25 years, then will share those rights with the state for an additional 50 years. Carbon dioxide is among the “greenhouse gases” linked to global warming.

Proposals allowing utilities to receive carbon credits for replanted trees to help offset power plant emissions are part of climate change legislation pending in Congress.

Oglethorpe is the nationÂ’s largest power supply cooperative with about $5 billion in assets. The utility serves 38 electric membership corporations with a total of 4.1 million customers.

Related News

easypower webinars

EasyPower Webinars - August and September Schedule

TUALATIN, OR - - We've ramped up webinars to help your learning while you might be working from home. As usual, you will receive an email the day after the webinar which will include the details most states need for you to earn continuing education credit.

EasyPower's well known webinar series covers a variety of topics regarding electrical power systems. Below you will see our webinars scheduled through the next few months.

In addition, there are more than 150 videos that were recorded from past webinars in our EasyPower Video Library. The topics of these videos include arc…

READ MORE

"Knowledge Gap" Is Contributing To On-the-job Electrical Injuries

READ MORE

San Diego Gas & Electric Orders Mitsubishi Power Emerald Storage Solution

READ MORE

Worker injured after GE turbine collapse

READ MORE

carol bellringer

Customers on the hook for $5.5 billion in deferred BC Hydro operating costs: report

READ MORE