Tag Archives: Georgia Energy Trust Fund

30 Megawatt solar plant opens near Austin

While Georgia Power continues to block solar deployment in Georgia, Austin Energy forges ahead in Texas with a utility-scale solar plant.

Here’s their PR, Austin Energy Activates 30 MW Solar Farm,

AUSTIN, Texas , Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Austin Energy along with Austin City Mayor Lee Leffingwell , and Village of Webberville Mayor Hector Gonzales today announced the activation of a 30 megawatt (MW) solar power plant located within the Village of Webberville, Texas . The activation of the power plant marks the first utility-scale solar deployment for Austin Energy and helps bring the utility one step closer to achieving a 35% renewable energy mix by 2020. It is the largest active solar project of any public power utility in the country, the largest active project in Texas and among the largest of all operating solar projects in America. The project was activated on December 20, 2011

The key was a PPA:

The utility-scale solar project was made possible through a 25-year solar power purchase agreement in which Austin Energy will purchase the energy at a fixed rate along with the renewable energy credits.
In Georgia, PPAs can be made with municipal governments, universities, companies, or even individuals, if SB 401 passes.

An opportunity for EMCs: Continue reading

Georgia Energy Trust Fund —Dr. Sidney Smith 2012 02 17

After the ribbon cutting for a new solar installation in Bryan County, Dr. Sidney Smith talked about a distributed commodity market in solar power, plus large private investment utility-scale solar plants, and then he told LAKE about the Georgia Energy Trust Fund.

Here’s the video:


Georgia Energy Trust Fund —Dr. Sidney Smith 2012 02 17
South Eastern Pathology Associates,
Selling Power, Lower Rates for Customers LLC (LRCLLC),
Richmond Hill, Bryan County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

We donate 1.5% of the money we make to this trust fund for the county…. Now we invest that money in Georgia bonds for the county. And then the county only gets half of the interest So the funds we donate for these counties will grow forever as a result of what we’re doing with the trust fund…

It’s invested in us, roads, airplanes, deep water, stuff like that.

And that’s the key actually.

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