Southern Co. announces new power-subsidiary, Vogtle project chiefs

Plant Vogtle expansion site
Plant Vogtle expansion site | Courtesy of Georgia Power

Southern Company announced some leadership changes this week at its Southern Power subsidiary and Plant Vogtle expansion project in an effort to ensure upcoming milestones in the project are reached and to streamline communications.

Southern Power has chosen Joseph Miller to serve as CEO and president following the departure of Oscar Harper IV, who is retiring after 32 years with the Southern Company system. Miller previously served as executive vice president of nuclear development for Georgia Power and as president of nuclear development for Southern Nuclear.

Two Southern subsidiaries, Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear, are preparing for milestones in the construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4. Mark Rauckhorst has been named  executive vice president of construction over the project. In this role, Rauckhorst will oversee construction progress and activity at the site.

The company said the expansion of the plant, near Waynesboro, Georgia, is approximately 60 percent complete in terms of contractual milestones. The Vogtle expansion is expected to be completed by 2020.

"We remain focused on completing the expansion to the highest standards of safety and quality, with the least-possible impact to our customers' rates while ensuring that the units will operate safely and power more than a half million Georgia homes and businesses for 60-plus years," W. Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, said.