That’s great, but how about more of those hundreds of construction jobs and operation money right back here to Georgia? But since you’re buying solar power, why do you need to buy a pipeline company? How about helping us against Sabal Trail invading us from Texas through Southern Company territory?
Southern Company PR, 30 November 2015, Southern Company subsidiary acquires first solar project in Texas,
Monday morning HB 57 passed 165 to zero,
according to
Gavin Bade in Utility Drive yesterday.
The
bill still has (for 46-3-62(2)) the same residential 10 kilowatt
limit as in the 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act,
but changes the 100 kilowatt commercial limit to:
(B) One hundred and twenty-five percent of the actual or expected maximum annual peak demand of the premises the solar technology serves, for a commercial application.
Bade reported 13 January 2015 that Continue reading
You won’t have to mortgage the farm to install solar power if this bill passes,
because you’ll be able to get
reasonable financing.
Update 2015-02-07: HB 57 was favorably reported out of the House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee 28 January 2015, first time such a bill has ever cleared that hurdle.
The actual solar leasing bill in the Georgia House as of 14 January 2015 is HB 57 “…to provide for financing of solar technology by retail electric customers for the generation of electric energy to be used on and by property owned or occupied by such customers or to be fed back to the electric service provider”, aka the “Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015.” It includes the same old generation limits from the 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act (10 Megawatts per individual and 100 MW per company), but it blows a huge hole in the prohibition on power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Georgia Power and the Electric Membership Corporations have reportedly already agreed on this bill. If so, it should sail through the legislature. Still, it won’t hurt to call your Georgia House member and ask them to vote for it, and maybe become a co-sponsor.
Here’s PDF of the bill, and here’s the key provision: Continue reading
Every year since about 2000 one or more solar bills have been
before the Georgia legislature to modify the
1973 Territorial Electric Service Act
to enable solar financing.
2015 could be the year one of them finally passes,
what with
influential people finally waking up
to the cost-saving and energy-independence power of solar panels.
If you want
real energy reliability, lower power bills, and local jobs,
you can help pass whichever bill gets before the legislature this year,
and right now is a good time to help draft that bill.
Here are a few recent bills.
That year even the Georgia Municipal Association fell for opposing SB 51, and ALEC and Georgia Power once again smothered it in committee. This year two people in the Valdosta City government have told LAKE of their interest in passing a solar financing bill, so that’s a big change. Continue reading
People are starting to wake up as the solar sun rises above their horizon. This could be the year the Georgia legislature finally passes a bill to amend the law that inhibits solar financing. Even the City of Valdosta seems suddenly interested in helping with that.
Michael Caputo and Grant Blankenship, GPB, 12 December 2014, (VIDEO) Will Solar Power’s Surge in Georgia Make It To Homeowners?,
Early adopter Creighton Rosental of Macon is what you’d call a solar pioneer. The early adopter said that he had the 4-kilowatt panels installed on the backyard side of his roof about five years ago. Two-thirds of the upfront cost—about $30,000—was covered by a federal tax credit and a Georgia state credit.
“They built a frame and mounted it to the roof, which was a substantial fairly substantial enterprise.” Rosental said.
Continue reading
In snowy Massachusetts
you can finance a solar system with little money down
and complete payoff in 11 years.
Get the Georgia legislature to pass
HB 874 and we’ll be able to do this in sunny Georgia, too.
Used with permission from howeowner Carl Howe. -jsq
People seem interested so I’ll share details of our solar installation in Stow, MA.
Full disclosure: I know the president of our solar installation firm socially (he’s a friend of a friend of ours), and like many solar installers, they do pay referral fees if others sign up based on a recommendation from an existing customer. Should anyone decide to do business with our installer, New England Clean Energy, please mention my name.
We used New England Clean Energy from Hudson MA. I believe that they are one of, if not the, highest quality installer in our area. They have more than 300+ installations in MA and NH. Of course, SolarCity and others are also in the region, Continue reading
What electric utilities fear most: bipartisan support for distributed rooftop solar financing. You can call your legislator and support HB 874, the Solar Power Free-Market Financing and Property Rights Act of 2014.
Dave Williams wrote for the Atlanta Business Chronicle 28 January 2014, Ga. Republican unveils solar bill,
Georgia property owners would be able to contract directly with solar energy installers to finance the installation of solar panels under legislation introduced in the General Assembly Tuesday.
The bill would let property owners lease solar panels instead of having to buy them with cash up front, said Georgia Rep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, the bill’s sponsor.
“We want to make it clear Continue reading
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 VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection.
Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for
the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether
the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s
version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law..
Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair
is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it,
the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.
Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday, Concerns continue over garbage agreement: Business owner argues case against County
The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said Tuesday.
Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart?
Is money the only value the county government can name?
Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already
had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more
to keep the sites open.
Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.
And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low? Look at Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year. But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection anyway?
Continue readingWhen Goldman Sachs gets in, you know there’s money in solar. They’re certainly not investing half a billion dollars for your health. Of course, if you’re in Georgia, you won’t be getting any of this 110 MW of SolarCity solar on your roof, because of that antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act that Georgia Power and Southern Company keep propping up. Maybe we should do something about that. -jsq
Continue reading
SAN MATEO, Calif., and NEW YORK, May 16, 2013—SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY), a leading provider of clean energy, today announced a lease financing agreement with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to fund more than $500 million in solar power projects; an estimated 110 megawatts in generation capacity for homeowners and businesses.
The financing makes it possible for homeowners, businesses, government and other non-profit organizations to install solar panels with no upfront cost and pay less for clean electricity than they currently pay for utility bills. The agreement was initiated in 2012 and expanded per
