A major Georgia Power energy project in Northwest Georgia is nearing completion, with the company preparing to place a 57.5-megawatt battery storage facility in Floyd County into service later this year.

Georgia Power confirmed this month that construction of the Hammond Battery Energy Storage System is nearing completion. The project is being built at the site of the former Plant Hammond, west of Rome, and is currently scheduled to begin commercial operation in November 2026.

The project represents a new use for part of the former coal-fired power plant property. Plant Hammond’s coal-fired generating units were retired in 2019, but the location already had much of the electrical and transmission infrastructure needed to move electricity onto Georgia Power’s grid. The company says reusing that infrastructure allows the battery project to take advantage of existing transmission capacity rather than developing an entirely new generating site.

The battery facility is located on approximately 7.95 acres between Alabama Highway and the Coosa River, about 9.7 miles west of downtown Rome. The property was formerly used as a coal storage area at Plant Hammond.

Unlike a conventional power plant, the Hammond facility will not generate electricity. Instead, large-scale batteries will store electricity when it is available and then send that power back onto the grid when demand is higher. Battery storage can be particularly useful during periods of peak demand, such as extremely hot summer afternoons or cold winter mornings.

The Hammond project is designed as a four-hour battery system, meaning it can provide stored electricity for several hours when called upon. Georgia Power says battery storage gives the company another quickly dispatchable resource that can help maintain reliability as electricity demand grows.

The Floyd County project is part of a much larger expansion of battery storage across Georgia. Georgia Power announced September 15 that its new 128-megawatt Robins Battery Facility near Warner Robins is now commercially operating. The company says battery projects already completed in Cherokee and Lowndes counties total 579.5 megawatts, while Hammond is nearing completion.

The Georgia Public Service Commission has also approved nine additional battery storage facilities across eight sites, representing more than 3,000 megawatts of additional storage capacity.

For Northwest Georgia, the Hammond project also represents a significant reinvestment in a former industrial site. Floyd County officials have identified the project as one that will help strengthen the local tax base following the retirement of the coal-fired plant.

Construction of the Hammond facility is being handled by Crowder Industrial Construction, with commercial operation currently projected for November.