Tag Archives: GEFA

Georgia clean energy tax credits: yes, they are available

Inquiring minds want to know if Georgia still has its energy rebate program.
The answer is yes.



The usual place to look for state tax incentives is

DSIRETM
(Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency).
That database shows for Georgia not only state
financial incentives but also a local loan program for
Athens-Clarke County
and a local rebate program for Atlanta.
There’s a thought!
Valdosta or Lowndes County could do a loan program for real clean renewable energy!
or the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) could do that
using some of its $15 million in bonds and other debt, assuming it hasn’t
already spent all of it on locking up land.

Or Georgia Power or Colquitt Electric could do that,

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Solar Power and Georgia Power

As we’ve seen, the
Center of Innovation – Energy
defines solar as a southwestern energy source (see slide 9).
That slide uses a version of this map:

I found that map on Georgia Power’s web pages.
Meanwhile, here are

Georgia Power Solar Projects.
Hm, “a rooftop solar demonstration program”, “plans to install solar panels at schools in each of the company’s regions”, “showcase its technology”.
Where’s the actual rapid deployment?

Meanwhile,

Texas almost doubled its renewable energy generation between 2004 and 2006
and hasn’t stopped since.

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State Energy Strategy of Georgia

Among the questions local citizens asked the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) was

where is the south Georgia, state, or southeast U.S. renewable energy strategy?
VLCIA Project Manager Allan Ricketts looked, and he couldn’t find it, either.


He did find
this list of “renewable energy strategy”
hits from a GEFA search.
At least one of those links points us to http://www.georgiaenergyplan.org/,
which now gets us

Are you interested in buying this domain name?

The state has apparently abandoned that domain.
Is that an indication of how seriously Georgia takes renewable energy?

Here’s something that looks promising:

State Energy Strategy for Georgia (SESG),
December 14, 2006, Governor’s Energy Policy Council, GEFA.
It says it’s an energy strategy, but it’s mostly
about transportation of existing fuels such as natural gas.
Towards the end of the document in Figure 2 (shown above) the SESG illustrates
the pit we’re in: about a third of Georgia’s energy comes from coal,
another third from petroleum, a sixth from natural gas, and so little
from renewable sources they apparently weren’t worth putting on the pie chart.

The SESG does contain this:

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Biomass Plant Hearing Today

You can ask questions and expect answers.



The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Air Protection Branch issued a

Press Release on April 12, 2010 announcing a meeting:

EPD will hold a question and-answer (Q&A) session and a public hearing on Tuesday,
April 27, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room in the Valdosta City Hall Annex. The city hall annex is located at 300 N. Lee Street.

The subject is “on Proposed
Biomass-Fired Power Plant Application Submitted by WireGrass Power, LLC”

You can also submit questions and comments in writing:

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Industrial Authority Projects

Kara Ramos writes in the VDT today about

Building industry:
A look at current Industrial Authority projects.
The
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
has quite a few interesting projects projected.
It will be interesting to see which of them pan out.

Members were in agreement that while there are many students graduating from area colleges, they are moving to other cities to find higher paying jobs. Some board members agreed the local workforce needs improvement to enhance the work of current employees, improve the skills of unemployed individuals, and create more job openings.

Can’t argue with that.

The controversial aspects of the Wiregrass Power, LLC biomass project
are not discussed in the article. Instead, the tiny accompanying solar plant
gets some press:

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