Completed in 1981 the building utilizes 4,500 tons (4,000 metric tons) of structural steel, and its floors have a passive solar design, with each floor on the south-facing side extending 15 in (380 mm) beyond the one below.

In summer, when the sun is high in the sky, each extension partially shades the windows below; in winter, when the sun is lower in the southern sky, it shines directly into the windows to assist with space heating.

Because of this incremental increase in floor size from the ground to the roof on the southern facade, the building is sometimes referred to as the "Leaning Tower of Power".

[citation needed] When the building opened, it featured an experimental solar thermal project on the south plaza [see "Further reading" below], which was dismantled after a few years due to maintenance costs and scarcity and expense of replacement parts.

The solar project on the south plaza of the Georgia Power Company headquarters building in the early 1980s consisted of 1,482 parabolic trough (line focus) concentrating collectors with a total surface area of 23,712 square feet (2,202.9 m2).