When the PGA Tour returned to Atlanta’s historic East Lake Golf Club to crown the season’s FedExCup champion in 2022, Southern Company and its subsidiaries helped deliver the first-ever net-zero energy Tour Championship.
Southern Company has been the official energy partner of the PGA Tour since 1999 and a partner of the Tour Championship since 2016. According to company officials, the event’s prominence created a perfect opportunity for showcasing the utility’s net-zero commitment and its meaningful progress toward producing a more sustainable event.
“Providing the first Tour Championship with net-zero energy emissions is an extension of our commitment to clean energy as we strive toward a net-zero future,” Georgia Power CEO and President Chris Womack told American Gas. Womack will be head of Southern come March 31.
The project also serves as a blueprint for other utilities looking to incorporate net-zero into events they’re associated with.
“All companies committed to net-zero have the ability to use their voices to affect change through their vendors, partners and the organizing bodies of events as they produce events like this one,” Womack said. “Energy companies, specifically, are important resources to companies and communities looking to achieve their energy needs and sustainability goals.”
Working in conjunction with the Tour Championship team, Southern Company provided renewable natural gas, which was instrumental in clubhouse activities such as cooking, showering and laundry during the four-day event. Through its partnership with subsidiary PowerSecure, Southern Company also swapped 11,000 gallons of traditional diesel for renewable fuels for all on-site generation during Tour Championship Week.
In addition, 90% of the golf cart fleet was electric, and a collaboration with Georgia Power offset 300,000 kilowatt-hours in on-course energy with 500,000 kWh in renewable energy credits.
And in the Good Energy Pavilion—a mid-course oasis that featured solar cellphone-charging stations, air conditioning, golf simulators and touch screens detailing Southern Company’s commitment to a net-zero future—recyclable and reused materials including wood, fabric and mesh were purposefully procured and will be reused in 2023.
Southern Company and PowerSecure also assisted the PGA Tour in meeting its sustainability goals during the construction of its new headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.