LEADING RESEARCH
New, cleaner and more efficient ways to produce and use energy – that's the focus of our research and drive to be a technological leader. We're helping develop the energy sources of the future.

Microturbines are relatively small electric generating units that can be run from remote locations, including customer sites. Our test program is aimed at finding where and how these units might be economical.

We're participating in a three-year, $7 million joint project at the Houston Advanced Research Center's new Center for Fuel Cell Research and Applications. In addition, we're working with three other companies to build and install a 250-kilowatt demonstration fuel cell power plant at the Mercedes-Benz production facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Our objective is to find how fuel cells can be a clean, reliable and affordable energy source.

MAXIMIZING VALUE
Marketing a variety of energy and related services helps maximize the value of our business. We offer customers ways to improve their energy usage and to take advantage of other services we already have in place.

For example, we improve power quality to large customers by marketing flywheels. The flywheels store energy that provides backup protection during short outages.

Partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy in its national Energy Smart School program, we're helping schools use energy more efficiently by modernizing their lighting and upgrading heating and cooling systems. The savings achieved will be reinvested in the schools.

Southern LINC is another example of maximizing value. We set up this wireless communications service for use by our regulated business in the Southeast as well as by commercial businesses and government agencies. Now, fast-growing Southern LINC has nearly 200,000 customers.