Sometimes it feels like we’re up to our chins with the problems of this world. They could be related to politics or religion, violence in Israel, or security at our own border. Just listening to the news can feel overwhelming and cause us to feel hopeless.
I’m reminded of a scene in the series “Band of Brothers,” which documents the journey of Easy Company from basic training to the invasion of Normandy and all their battles through World War II.
In a scene at the end of the first day of the D-Day invasion, Lt. Dick Winters, leader of Easy Company, walks up the road and looks out over the shelling and burning of a town in the distance. With a look of hopelessness on his face, he makes a commitment: “That night, I took time to thank God for seeing me through that day of days. And prayed I would make it through D-Day plus 1. And if, somehow, I managed to get home again, I promised God and myself that I would find a quiet piece of land someplace and spend the rest of my life in peace.”
It’s a reminder that hope isn’t found in a battle, your political party winning power, harvesting that buck of a lifetime, material things, or even Alabama football winning another national championship. Hope is found in God. We celebrate that hope each December with the birth of Jesus Christ. When you put your faith in him, you will have hope.
Looking back on the last year, our cooperative has had its faith tested a few times. This time last year, we set an all-time record for the highest demand ever on our system. On the 1 hand, it was a moment that pushed our distribution system almost to capacity. On the other hand, we were fortunate that many places were closed and it gave us a chance to identify some weaknesses in our system and address them.
1 way PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, our wholesale energy provider, has done that is by expanding its generation resources with the help of South Alabama Electric. We’ve all heard a lot about renewable energy, and in January this year, PowerSouth energized the 80-megawatt Wing Solar project.
Solar power can be a good source of low-cost energy but it’s also intermittent. That means it can’t be relied on as a source of continuous, steady energy when it comes to serving demand at any given time.
That’s why, in September, PowerSouth energized the Lowman Energy Center. This 700-megawatt natural gas generation plant is the most efficient of its kind in the United States. It will provide PowerSouth’s member cooperatives with low-cost, reliable baseload power — power available 24/7 — for many years to come.
Finally, in the early fall of this year, the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Augusta, Georgia, brought its third nuclear unit online. Owned by a consortium of power companies, including PowerSouth, the Vogtle plant provides base load power that is also carbon-free. Unit 4 is scheduled to be online by the summer of 2024, bringing even more clean baseload power to our system.
As you can see, we’ve made great strides in adding more generations to support growing demand in 2023. Those 3 resources are very different but they’re all important for serving your electrical needs.
This year, we were fortunate that those needs didn’t include recovering from a hurricane. But we did have several straight-line wind storms in June that added up to more than $700,000 in repairs. Unfortunately, the state of Alabama didn’t qualify for FEMA reimbursement after these storms, so we had to pay for that unexpected outlay ourselves.
As a result, we have been forced to reduce the usual capital credit retirement our members expect to $650,000 this year. We appreciate your understanding as we make the investments needed to keep our system operating reliably. You can look out for your capital credit checks in the mail this month.
Each year we face new challenges and each year we find new ways to work through them as a cooperative and as a community. I know sometimes the problems of this world can leave us feeling hopeless but I encourage everyone to remember that Jesus has already overcome this world. Until next month, stay hopeful.