Georgia Power Named a Top Utility in Economic Development for 28th Consecutive Year

Georgia Power Named a Top Utility in Economic Development for 28th Consecutive Year

For the 28th consecutive year, Site Selection magazine has named Georgia Power a Top Utility in Economic Development—recognizing the company’s continued work to support business investment, strengthen communities and help create opportunities across Georgia.

The recognition follows another strong year for economic development in the state. In 2025, Georgia Power Economic Development helped 90 companies locate or expand in Georgia, representing more than 18,000 jobs and nearly $9 billion in capital investment. Foreign direct investment accounted for 31% of new locations, while the team’s active project pipeline grew to more than 230 prospects.

Behind those results is an economic development strategy that continues to evolve alongside the companies and communities Georgia Power serves – from new programs and resources to innovative tools addressing site readiness, workforce, and the unprecedented energy needs of today’s largest projects.

New Investment Across Georgia

Georgia’s 2025 economic development wins reflected the diversity of the state’s economy, with investments spanning headquarters, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, technology, food processing, and more.

In Atlanta, Duracell announced plans to relocate its global R&D headquarters to Science Square, creating 110 new jobs in addition to retaining positions from its previous home. Mercedes-Benz also announced it would establish Atlanta as its North American headquarters, adding up to 500 jobs and planning a future state-of-the-art R&D facility in the city, while Rivian announced its east coast headquarters in Atlanta’s Krog District.

Outside the Perimeter, TriNet selected Dunwoody for a new corporate center expected to create more than 750 jobs, and PBS Aerospace chose Roswell for its North American headquarters, manufacturing and R&D operations.

The growth continued for areas outside of Atlanta as well. JS Link America selected Columbus for a $223 million rare earth magnet manufacturing facility expected to create 524 jobs, Virginia Transformer announced a $40 million expansion in Rincon that will add 400 jobs, Pilgrim’s Pride announced a $400 million food processing facility in Walker County creating 600 jobs, and medical device manufacturer Integer created 200 jobs by expanding its bioscience operations in Dade County.

Just outside Savannah, 2025 marked a milestone for the largest economic development project in Georgia history: the ribbon cutting for Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. Together with its large and growing supplier network, the project’s total projected impact now exceeds 15,000 jobs and continues to generate new investment across the region. Most recently, the company announcement the intention to expand production from 500,000 units to at least 700,000 by 2028.

Taken together, these projects demonstrate one of Georgia’s greatest economic development strengths: growth is happening across industries, regions and communities.

Building New Tools for a Changing Economic Development Landscape

The projects competing for sites today are also changing.

Rapid growth in data centers, advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive industries has made power availability and infrastructure planning increasingly important in site selection. In response, Georgia Power’s economic development team worked more closely than ever with internal power, pricing, and planning teams while developing new tools and processes designed to respond to increasingly complex project requirements.

New large-load dashboards help provide pricing teams, planners and company leadership with information needed to make faster decisions, while new intake processes streamline the way Georgia Power evaluates prospective large-load customers. The team also provided Integrated Resource Plan briefings to economic development partners, commercial real estate professionals and site selection consultants to help stakeholders better understand how Georgia Power is planning for the state’s long-term energy needs.

That work is part of a broader effort to prepare Georgia for continued growth. In 2025, Georgia Power worked with the Georgia Public Service Commission to secure at least 6,000 megawatts of new generation and finalize a 10-year transmission plan that includes improvements across more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines.

Helping Communities Grow

In 2025, Georgia Power's Regional Economic Development team continued to support new and existing business expansions across Georgia while responding to a 53% increase in requests for community preparedness assistance. The team was a catalyst to more than 7,000 jobs and over $3 billion in capital investment.

One of the year’s most significant new initiatives was the expansion of Retail Ready, a customized program designed to help Georgia communities strengthen their approach to retail recruitment.

After beginning with a pilot community in 2024, Retail Ready expanded to six communities in 2025. The program helps local leaders better understand market dynamics, improve data and marketing materials, and connect with prospective developers. By the end of the year, participating communities reported $2.1 million in new investment, 60 jobs and a projected $15.1 million in local retail sales.

Georgia Power also continued investing in the people doing economic development work every day in their own communities. Project Manager 101, retail education sessions, the statewide Entrepreneurship Summit and Georgia Academy for Economic Development programs helped equip local leaders with the knowledge and resources needed to prepare their communities for future opportunities.

Innovating Behind the Scenes

Some of the year’s most important advancements happened behind the scenes.

Georgia Power advanced its proprietary Site Assessment Matrix, or SAM, to Version 3, which includes new technology to streamline geographic analysis. These reports were generated throughout the year to help community leaders identify and evaluate potential development sites.

The Georgia Experience Center, the team’s nationally recognized multimedia facility for hosting companies, consultants and community partners, continued to evolve as well. More than 3,300 people visited the center in 2025, and renovations introduced new meeting technology, Georgia-made art installations highlighting the state’s talent and innovation story, and a virtual tour that extends the experience beyond the building itself.

28 Years and Building

Having been named a top utility each year since the award began, each additional year being honored is its own milestone. But more importantly than the streak itself, it reflects a commitment that has remained consistent for decades – even as the work itself has changed.

Today’s version of economic development requires much more than simply responding to a project when an RFP arrives. It means preparing sites years in advance, understanding workforce pipelines, and supporting entrepreneurs and local retailers. It means building relationships with communities and giving decisionmakers the information they need to plan generation and transmission infrastructure for tomorrow’s energy demands. It also means continually finding or making better tools to help companies make confident decisions about investing in Georgia.

After 28 consecutive years of recognition as a Top Utility in Economic Development, the goals remain the same: create opportunities for Georgia communities, help companies grow and thrive, and make sure our state is ready for what comes next.