Tag Archives: GA PSC

Solar may win today at the Georgia PSC

There’s still time to call in and make your voice heard,
(800) 282-5813.
The swing vote is
the Commissioner

for south Georgia, H. Doug Everett.
Solar power may win over Georgia Power today.



Greg Bluestein and Kristi E. Swartz wrote for the AJC yesterday,

Solar supporters see rare loss on horizon for Georgia Power,

If Georgia Power says it needs something, it usually gets it. Over
the years, state regulators have cleared the way for the utility to
land new power plants, more transmission lines and rate increases,
often without much heated debate.

Walter C. Jones
wrote for jacksonville.com yesterday,

PSC likely to require Georgia Power to double its reliance on solar power Thursday Continue reading →

F is for solar in Georgia, #45 in 2013 state solar power rankings

F for all three main Southern Company states:
Georgia,
Alabama,
and
Mississippi.
Florida manages a B for rank #23, presumably because
SO only covers part of the panhandle.


Coincidence?
While

SO’s tiger team studies someday maybe doing something about distributed solar,
the

Georgia Public Service Commission could double solar requirements
on Georgia Power this week.

You can clearly see those three SO states
on this

map by GigaOm:


Solar Power Rocks.com asked 19 June 2013 in

2013 State Solar Power Rankings,

“How do we recognize and reward legislatures for admirable solar energy policy while holding them accountable to do better?” Continue reading →

Koch astroturf vs. solar jobs for Georgians

More solar for Georgia must be a good thing if AFP is organizing
astroturf against it.
GA PSC decides Thursday.
Like another speaker
at

GA PSC last month,
I don’t think even

Bubba McDonald’s proposal to double solar requirements on Georgia Power
goes

nearly far enough,
but at least it’s a start, which is more than Georgia Power will do
unless nudged by GA PSC.



Ray Henry wrote for AP yesterday,

Critics’ numbers misleading in Georgia solar fight:
Georgia panel will vote soon on power plan,

A political group founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David
Koch wants Georgia’s utility regulators to reject a plan requiring
Southern Co. to buy more solar energy, but an Associated Press
review finds it has used misleading figures to build its case.

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity, founded by
billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, wants Georgia’s utility
regulators to reject a solar energy plan in Georgia. But an
Associated Press review ahead of a vote on the issue finds that it
has used misleading figures to build its case.

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity has said in mass
e-mails that Continue reading →

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle and move to wind and solar power –Courtney Hanson @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle, especially its water use,
and move to efficiency, wind, and solar power instead,
said


Courtney Hanson of
Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND)
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She reminded GA PSC Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are late and over budget, and then:

I want to add my voice to the chorus of folks here who are concerned
about water issues.


We know that Vogtle 3 and 4 will require an additional withdrawal
of as much as 74 million gallons a day from the Savannah River and
most of that water will not be returned.
We know that the central Savannah River
area where Vogtle is located is already
very prone to droughts
and the plant has been close to shutting down several times
due to drought conditions.


Georgia is also already struggling to supply enough water
for our homes, businesses, industries, and farms.

In addition, the Savannah River is Continue reading →

It is not enough to add a little solar and wind on top of fossil and fission fuels –a German @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A German national residing in Georgia
asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation
while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of
fossil fuels and nuclear,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change,
and we need to do something about it.



I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something,
some matter of fact.
A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means
consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity,
and so on.
Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out.
For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is
no longer acceptable.
We need drastic changes in our energy supply.
We need to use less.



Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s
parent company Southern Company

reemphasized yet again that

To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.

Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude,
as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading →

More solar, less nuke cost overruns –Glenn Carroll @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC
to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power
to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states,
plus efficiency and conservation,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She
said
they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle,
which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement,
costs, etc.
She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch,
and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)
for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.



The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power
is being isolated.
It is protected financially of course because of the small business
and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that
they are taking.
We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.

She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at
Port Angeles, presumably

the one in Washington State.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Increased investment in demand-side reduction –a homebuilder @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Paul[?] Matthews said he’s been green since before it was cool,
first in an earlier Georgia Power program (EarthCraft), and now in EarthCents.
He thinks the program is good, with both environmental and
economic benefits, but he asked for it to be extended to become
a model for the south,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He spoke about his company’s investment in sustainable
efficiency and conservation, and asked GA PSC and Georgia Power
to also do more.

A much more efficient way and cost-effective of reducing power is by
reducing energy used. We’re not only looking at tripling the savings
over the next ten years, but we’re also looking at job growth….

…a sustainable and long-term growth approach.

Let’s make the rebates and also the tax credits so they’re a model
for Georgia and also for the south.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

EarthCents has taken a lot of power bill mystery away –a contractor @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A contractor who does homeowner education as part of Georgia Power’s
Earth Cents program praised that program
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.



He said homeowners tend to complain about power bills:

And this Earth Cents program has, in my experience, taken a lot of that
mystery away.
The homeowners that I touch and I deal with come away with an understanding
that leaves them less concerned about the rate hikes that I’m sure
keep you guys up at night when it comes to a vote and more concerned
about where the money is actually going.

I’m guessing he means homeowners are more concerned about what
Georgia Power is using to generate the power.


Earth Cents, according to Southern Company:

Introduced in 2008, EarthCents energy efficiency programs help our
customers save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gases.
EarthCents comprises a set of standing and new programs—and
educational efforts—to reduce residential and commercial
electricity consumption.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Georgia Power still too slow on solar in 20 year plan: PSC decides soon

Georgia Power tries to continue whistling in the fossil and nuclear fuel
dark while distributed solar power changes the world around it.
The Georgia Public Service Commission can decide differently,
and will decide next week, 11 July 2013.



Joshua Stewart
wrote 2 July 2013,

Decision Looms On Georgia Power Plan,

The state Public Service Commission votes next week on Georgia
Power’s 20-year plan, the road map for providing electricity to 2.4
million customers. That includes the mix of fuels the company will
use and the efforts the company undertakes to get customers to use
less energy. This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia
Power also wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating
units at six power plants.

This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia Power also
wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating units at six
power plants.

PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said at a
hearing in April that this version of Georgia Power’s plan “is
filled with the most-significant issues” of any Integrated Resources
Plan in the last decade.

And Georgia Power avoids actually facing many of those issues:

Continue reading →

Sun dancing as a Georgia Trend

GSEA, GaSU, Georgia Power, and even me are quoted in a Georgia
Trend feature about solar power in Georgia.
As Mahatma Gandhi is alleged to have said when asked his opinion
of western civilization: “that would be a good idea!”

Jerry Grillo wrote for Georgia Trend July 2013,

Sun Dancing:
As Georgia’s solar capacity shoots skyward, a new state utility is proposed,



It’s the sun, the sol of our solar system, to which everything that
lives and moves, including the wind, owes its existence. Without the
sun, there is no us, no Earth. You can’t miss it. It’s the biggest
thing in the sky, the biggest thing for at least 24 trillion miles,
and at 4.5 billion years old it is middle-aged and remains the most
abundant source of power between here and Alpha Centauri, zapping
our planet every minute with more energy than humanity can consume
in a year.

The best thing is, the sun is free. Still, for most of those eons,
capturing the sun’s energy for human consumption has been like
picking crops with a catcher’s mitt.

But over the past few years, photovoltaic technology
(“photo” for light, “voltaic” meaning
electricity) has gotten way more efficient, and the previously
prohibitive price has fallen dramatically, setting the stage for
what’s happening now in Georgia: Solar deployment and interest are
increasing dramatically.

“This is a very dynamic time for solar energy, and it
demonstrates a pent-up demand and interest in solar energy for
Georgia,” says Mark Bell, chair of the Georgia Solar Energy
Association (GSEA) and president of Atlanta-based Empower Energy
Tech-nology. “There’s a great potential here for real,
sustainable economic development.”



Grillo was pretty thorough in getting a range of points of view
(with the notable exception of

Georgia Sierra Club),
and

the whole article
is well worth reading.

Among the things I told Grillo back at the beginning of May,
I’m especially glad he included this:

Continue reading →