Georgia Power deploys 1 MW solar; could have done 330 MW by now

Let’s compare Georgia Power’s 1 megawatt Upson solar plant with what Georgia Power and Southern Company could be doing if they weren’t wasting so much money on nukes at Plant Vogtle.

S. Heather Duncan reported for the Macon Telegraph, First big Ga. Power solar project comes online in Upson. Yay! Georgia Power and its parent the Southern Company (SO) will have a hard time now saying solar power doesn’t work in Georgia. But let’s compare the megawatts and put that in perspective.

Solar Megawatts

That’s right: we could have had 3,000 times as much solar production by now. All SO would have to do would be to look at what Cobb EMC and Austin Energy have done, or even what SO itself is doing in Nevada. Or at what Germany, world leader in solar power, a thousand miles north of us, is doing.

Remember: Georgia Power just deployed 1 MW of solar power, when we could have had 3,000 MW by now. Does that seem right to you?

Especially when nuclear plants guzzle water and solar does not?

Maybe it’s time to do something about it. Maybe even more than paying your nuclear rate hike in a separate check. As Cobb EMC CEO Chip Nelson said:

We’re just ripe for solar power.

-jsq

PS: The Upson story is owed to Alex Thomas.