Category Archives: Solar

Solar benefits outweigh costs in NC

And the same is true in Georgia, despite Georgia Power and Southern Company.

John Downey wrote for Charlotte Business Journal 23 October 2013, Study: Solar benefits outweigh costs in NC

An independent study published by a nationally known energy consultant asserts that adding 500 megawatts of solar generation in North Carolina would save utility ratepayers about $26 million annually.

It notes the gains from solar projects — such as lower transmission and distribution costs, avoided emissions, lower losses of electricity in transmission. The study calculates that such benefits outweigh the costs by 30 percent to 40 percent.

Update 2017-04-25: Energy NC seems to have removed or moved its copy of that report, but fortunately SEIA lists it on a backup website, and I’ve linked it into the quotation above, plus a copy on the LAKE website. SEIA also lists many other studies for other states, such as one for Virginia which is on the MDV-SEIA website, and now also has a copy on the LAKE website. For Georgia SEIA lists the testimony of GSEIA before the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2013. For Florida SEIA lists only a very old (2003) study with a broken link, which can be found as a google book, but now would mostly be worthwhile as a museum piece. Duke’s own actions in Florida in 2016 and 2017 indicate Duke Energy knows the sun is rising even on the Sunshine State.

The study considered two intertwined solar methods: Continue reading →

Nash County, NC has agendas and minutes for many local boards online

A county no bigger than Lowndes County has agendas and minutes online for its Board of Commissioners, Board of Health, Local Emergency Planning Committee, Board of Adjustment, Board of Elections, Social Services Board, and yes, its Planning Board. Why can Nash County, NC afford this yet Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter says Lowndes County can’t afford to put agendas and minutes online for the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission? And if a county can require a solar farm to follow stormwater management and numerous other regulations, why can’t a county require a natural gas pipeline to follow local regulations? It can, if its elected officials actually stand up for their citizens. And why can Nash County, quite a bit north of Lowndes County, install solar farm after solar farm while there are none in Lowndes County?

The Nash County online documents also include the details of what the various boards were considering, such as in the Agenda and Minutes of the Nash County Planning Board 21 October 2013, which include this item:

  1. Conditional Use Permit Request CU-130901 (Previously Tabled Item).
    Made by Chris Killenberg With Community Energy Solar on Behalf of Castalia Solar LLC to Develop a Solar Farm on an Approximately 22.91 Acre Portion of Two Tracts Located on the West Side of N NC Highway 58 and South of NC Highway 56 in the A1 Agricultural Zoning District.

And not just the agenda item, also extended discussion in the meeting, including: Continue reading →

Utilities can’t take the solar heat

Utilities are trying increasingly desperate tactics in their losing battle against distributed rooftop solar power. It’s time for them to get out in front and lead instead.

Clare Foran wrote for NationalJournal Are Utilities Wilting From Heat of Solar Competition?

Regulatory battles over solar power payment models played out in several states this year. And as the dust settles, solar providers are claiming victory. Utilities, on the other hand, are trying to reframe the conversation entirely by insisting they aren’t an enemy of solar.

After discussing utlities’ attempts to bash net metering, she notes the Sierra Club hard-won victory over the ALEC solar tax:

In November, Georgia Power backed down Continue reading →

Sandy Hill Solar, Elm City, NC

Can’t miss this driving north on I-95: acres of solar panels next to the highway, paying a local farmer for decades.

MacDonald wrote for enerG September/October 2012, Solar picking upsteam in the U.S. South,

The Sandy Cross solar farm is the most recent project completed by O2energies, a mid-sized Charlotte-based solar development firm that has built a reputation for combining sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy production on farms in the southeastern U.S. The company owns and operates several solar farms in North Carolina.

The company’s president, Joel Olsen, notes that agriculture and energy production can complement each other. Solar farms have a low profile, are noiseless, produce no pollution, and consume no water.

Olsen points out an interesting fact: solar farms can often be Continue reading →

The nuclear renaissance is dead: somebody tell the Georgia legislature the wind is blowing towards the sun

Sombody should tell Georgia Power and Southern Company they’re still pushing a dead power source. It’s time to go from far-too-expensive nuclear directly to solar onshore and wind offshore.

Remember in the last year or so five U.S. nukes have been shut down and five more have been cancelled while in Canada two more have been cancelled, plus maybe two more, and maybe as many as six are to be shut down. Dr Jim Green wrote for Ecologist yesterday, The nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead,

Perhaps the most shocking developments have been in the United States, where the industry is finding it increasingly difficult to profitably operate existing reactors—especially ageing reactors requiring refurbishments—let alone build new ones.

Almost half of the world’s reactors Continue reading →

Warren Buffett moves from nuclear to wind

How to get Georgia Power and Southern Company off of nuclear and onto offshore wind and onshore solar power: stop approving Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) rate hikes for nukes that are already a billion dollars over budget and more than a year late. So far Mississippi is doing better about this than Georgia, by capping ratepayer and taxpayer costs for Kemper Coal. Iowa did, and look what happened.

SimplyInfo wrote 23 December 2013, What Power Companies Do When Nuclear Is No Longer An Easy Option, Continue reading →

Coal tax and a gas pipeline for Christmas?

This was an op-ed submission to the VDT, which didn’t respond. Today’s the GA PSC vote, so I’m blogging it now.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) wants to do for coal what the Florida PSC already did for that gas pipeline Sabal Trail wants to gash through here: raise utility customer rates!

Who wants a Christmas present of higher electricity rates and continued coal smoke, plus increased guaranteed profit for Georgia Power of 11.5%? They already raised rates each of the last three years for gas and nuclear plants not yet even built; why should we permit more rate hikes when the PSC votes December 17th? Last week’s Public Policy poll found 69% of Georgia voters oppose that rate hike.

Is a one-time payment enough to let a huge 36 inch fracked methane pipeline gash through our communities while Spectra Energy of Houston and FPL of Juno Beach, Florida profit forever, and your property values go down and your hazards go up?

Those FPL profits come from rate hikes on your cousins the Florida ratepayers. AARP opposes that, saying: Continue reading →

Green bonds for rooftop solar?

What if the Industrial Authority used its bond-issuing power to finance rooftop solar? And what if it combined that with utility-scale solar projects on its own industrial park lands, and for example at the airport, or at the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant?

Here’s the idea, in a report by Citi GPS, Energy Darwinism: The Evolution of the Energy Industry, October 2013, pages 48-49,

It is not just the technology that is evolving in the solar industry; the financing of solar projects, both residential and utility-scale is evolving quickly. The most notable development here has been in the form of solar leasing, whereby the rooftop panels are owned by a third party who effectively leases the rooftop from the home/factory/office owner, the latter receiving payment normally through a reduction in electricity bills paid for by the lessee. This provides the benefits of cheaper and cleaner solar electricity to the homeowner, whilst negating the need for the significant initial capital outlay. The panel owner or lessee earns their return via incentive mechanisms such as the U.S. Investment Tax Credit, and via the sale of the electricity back to the local utility. This financing mechanism has proved particularly successful in the U.S. and is gaining traction in the UK, with companies in other countries looking to follow suit.

This is what Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning suggested back in May that SO might do. But we don’t have to wait on Southern Company or Georgia Power.

At the utility scale level, the emergence of innovative financing vehicles such as green bonds Continue reading →

ALEC solar tax

Arizona, Virginia, and now they’re trying in Georgia: ALEC wants to tax your solar panels. ALEC is trying to legislate buggy whip requirements in an age of affordable electric cars.

Suzanne Goldenberg and Ed Pilkington wrote for the Guardian 4 December 2013, ALEC calls for penalties on ‘freerider’ homeowners in assault on clean energy,

Documents obtained by the Guardian show the core elements of its strategy began to take shape at the previous board meeting in Chicago in August, with meetings of its energy, environment and agriculture subcommittees.

Further details of Alec’s strategy were provided by John Eick, the legislative analyst for Alec’s energy, environment and agriculture program.

Eick told the Guardian the group would be Continue reading →

Inexpensive electric cars

Plug one into solar panels on your roof, and you’ve got a solar powered car.

Zachary Shahan wrote for evcentral.org today, 11 Electric Cars Priced Lower than the Average New Car, including a list of November prices starting less than $16,000 and no more than $30,000:

  1. Nissan Leaf – $21,300
  2. Chevy Volt – $26,685
  3. Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid – $27,490
  4. Ford C-Max Energi – $28,943
  5. smart electric drive – $12,490
  6. Ford Focus Electric – $27,700
  7. Chevy Spark EV – $19,995
  8. Mitsubishi i – $15,495
  9. Fiat 500e – $24,300
  10. Wheego Whip — $18,995
  11. Wheego LiFe — $25,495

-jsq