Tag Archives: Georgia

Solar conference in Birmingham, U.K.

Birmingham lures solar conference from London. Maybe soon we’ll read Valdosta lures solar conference from Atlanta.

Solar Power UK wrote 15 December 2010, Sun Shines on Birmingham’s Solar Industry:

Birmingham is to host the annual Solar Power UK Conference and Exhibitionin October 2011. Over 3000 solar industry participants, 30% of which will be overseas visitors, are due to descend on the city during the conference following sell out events in Munich and London in 2010, generating a predicted £4.15m for the city.
That’s about $6.7 million U.S. dollars.
It is the only time the event has been hosted outside of London in the UK and the first time the conference will be lighting up the city. The decision comes as Birmingham is increasingly recognised as a hub for the developing UK solar industry…
So becoming a leader in solar netted Birmingham a major conference, which brings income in addition to the jobs and energy generated directly by the solar projects.

Continuing: Continue reading →

GALEO contests GA anti-immigrant bill

Jane Osborn notes:
More on the lawsuit filed to overturn HB87 that has scared the farmworkers out of state.
In the the press release by GALEO 16 June 2011:
GALEO (Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials), the leading Latino organization focused on civic engagement and leadership development of the Latino community in Georgia, has submitted an Amicus Brief to ask the federal court to stop implementation of Georgia’s HB87 law. The brief was filed by the law firm of Rohan Law, P.C. GALEO filed the brief in an effort to protect constitutional and civil rights of Georgians.

“This law will adversely impact our state by creating a state-law system for the regulation of immigration and immigration enforcement. This new scheme by the state is not only unconstitutional but will also encourage egregious violations of rights of Georgia’s residents and visitors,” said Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO.

GALEO believes that HB87 will disproportionately harm certain communities of color and would also encourage racial profiling. Enforcement of HB87 cannot be accomplished in a race-neutral fashion. Additionally, there are serious concerns of local law enforcement officials being unequipped to enforce HB87.

HB87 also threatens public safety in Georgia. By placing law enforcement officials in the position to enforce a broken immigration policy, HB87 will instill fear and mistrust in Georgia’s communities of color and drastically chill the reporting of crime and cooperation in criminal investigations by minorities. This erosion of trust would undermine public safety efforts for all Georgians.

Of course, the Georgia plan is to turn it into private safety anyway, by privatizing prisons for private profit of a few at taxpayer expense.

-jsq

Last day for advance rate at Solar Summit

The Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) is holding a conference Friday a week from today in Atlanta, and you can still sign up at the advance rate today. Sounds like a good place for networking potential projects.

Announcing Solar Summit 2011! Join utilities and policy experts from around the country as we present a full day of panel discussions and presentations on solar renewables. With the theme, “Solar Works in Georgia” GSEA will layout the roadmap for success in Georgia.
Where: GTRI Conference Center- 250 14th Street, Atlanta, GA 30318
When: Friday, June 24th 8a-4p
How: Tickets on sale now
What: $79 before June 15th — EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, 6/17 $99 at the door
Coffee starts at 7:45 AM, with the Welcome session at 8:15 and keynote speaker Col. Dan Nolan (USArmy Ret.) speaking at 8:30 on “The Military’s integration of Green Energy”.

Another panel asks the question, “Will military and institutional adoption lead the way?” Hm, maybe municipalities should help pioneer solar with financing from banks and power companies.

Another panel notes, “A recent ASU study ranked Georgia 3rd in the nation for solar development potential.” That would be this study.

A wide range of speakers come from industry, military, finance, and government. Sounds like a networking opportunity. Maybe even a good place to pitch a municipal solar project.

-jsq

Birmingham U.K. municipal solar didn’t wait for larger governments

Banks and power companies can fund municipal solar projects; cities and counties don’t have to wait for state or federal governments to provide them grants. Or at least Birmingham, U.K. has done it for public housing. And Quitman, Georgia did it last year, too.

According to Larry Elliott in the Guardian, 3 October 2010, 10,000 Birmingham council homes to get solar panels: City agrees £100m scheme, partly funded by banks and energy suppliers, to meet target for cutting carbon emissions

Plans to fit power generating solar panels to council-owned properties in Birmingham will be pushed forward this week after the council agreed a “green new deal” scheme covering 10,000 homes.

In the biggest proposal for retrofitting houses through an energy efficiency upgrade yet seen in the UK, the council agreed a £100m proposal last week designed to create jobs and meet the city’s ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The plan – Birmingham Energy Savers – will be jointly funded by Birmingham council and investment from energy suppliers and commercial banks, and follows two successful pilot schemes conducted in Europe’s biggest local authority.

Energy efficiency and solar power to create jobs!

We have local proof of concept right next door Continue reading →

T-SPLOST Projects for Southern Georgia Region

This came in yesterday. -jsq
From: “Jane Osborn”
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:32:19 -0400

Have you seen these proposed projects for our region if the transportation tax is passed? A few meetings have been held in local cities, mostly attended by elected officials with Ashley Paulk as the chair of our committee. Committee members are listed and projects proposed for each county in the region are outlined in great detail.

PDF

Jane F. Osborn, MSSW
Valdosta, GA
229-630-0924 cell

Georgia Power needs to expand solar —Lauren McDonald, Chairman, GA PSC

An unlikely ally in getting Georgia Power to do solar. Maybe too unlikely.

Kristi E. Swartz wrote in the AJC 8 June 2011, Regulator: Georgia Power needs more solar sources

Georgia utility regulator Lauren McDonald wants Georgia Power to come up with options in the next 30 days for expanding the tiny amount of electricity generated from solar power..

“I think we need to take an aggressive move and explore what we can do,” McDonald, a veteran member of the Public Service Commission, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I don’t think the company and even our staff has been challenged to the degree that they should be.”

Georgia Power responded saying they would “comply”. Which doesn’t mean much since there’s nothing but one person’s opinion to comply with.

I tend to agree with Neill Herring on this one:

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, called the action “back scratching.”

“They both get to look responsible,” said Herring, adding that there’s a growing and vocal solar lobby in Georgia. “They have to deal with those people. That’s what this is about.”

So I guess we need to be more vocal to get them to scratch harder.

The article notes:

Georgia Power has resisted building solar and other alternative energy projects for years, citing cost and a cloudy Southeast as the two main issues.
Which of course are both bogus excuses, since solar already costs less than nuclear to deploy, and Georgia Power’s own web pages admit that:
…insolation values in Georgia are significant enough to support solar energy systems in our state, with the southern two-thirds of Georgia having equivalent solar insolation values to most of the state of Florida.
Also more sun than Houston, which is busily deploying solar, and the same amount as Austin, which is a national leader in solar.

Maybe some cities also could suggest Georgia Power do something.

-jsq

PS: Claudia Collier pointed out this AJC article.

Georgia solar incentives

Tim Carroll asked in a comment on Valdosta budget hearing: no citizens spoke
Do you know of any grant funds we could look at for solar panel conversion on some buildings?
DSIRE has most of what I know about GA solar incentives.

There’s also the Georgia Solar Energy Association They have a page on incentives.

You may also notice Hannah Solar among GSEA’s sponsors. Hannah Solar knows quite a bit about incentives; their CEO Pete Marte was at the governor’s signing of the recent expansion of state incentives. More about HB 346.

It might be worth talking to Georgia Power. Their new CEO claims to be “bullish on solar”, they just connected Wiregrass Solar’s plant in Valdosta, and they’re doing various “experiments” and “demonstrations”. Maybe they need to do a demonstration above Valdosta City Hall’s parking lot….

-jsq

Valdosta budget hearing: no citizens spoke

Valdosta city officials advertised a budget hearing and no citizens spoke.

David Rodock wrote today in the VDT, Valdosta’s 2012 budget reviewed by citizens and public officials

City officials and staff gathered Wednesday night to discuss and review the fiscal year 2012 budget. Public participation was advertised, but no citizens presented any concern at the meeting. This is the first budget hearing, with the final adoption of the budget taking place at the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 23 at 5:30 p.m.
No citizens. I don’t live in Valdosta, so I didn’t go. Apparently no Valdosta residents who have any economic concerns went, either.

That’s too bad, because among the items discussed was this:

  • Energy and fuel prices are a threat, since the private sector controls the costs. Public Works, the Valdosta Fire Department and the Valdosta Police Department use significant amounts of fuel.
And I bet the city spends significant funds air conditioning its buildings. Costs that could be offset by investment in solar panels for those same buildings. Solar panels that would limit ongoing electrical expenditures, and would also be a visible sign to residents and potential investors that Valdosta means renewable and sustainable energy business.
According to Hanson, for every dollar spent by residents, $1.17 is spent by non-residents.
And many of those non-residents would see those solar panels, which would spread the green reputation of Valdosta back to whereever they came from.

If Valdosta wants to be forward-looking, Continue reading →

“I’m obviously here on one issue.” —Karen Noll @ VLCIA 14 June 2011

Karen Noll asked the VLCIA board to put a no-biomass clause in any purchase agreement regarding the proposed biomass site.

She began with these words:

I’m Karen Noll. I hope some of you already have seen my writing and have read my letters to you in the past. I’m obviously here on one issue. I hope that in the future I can be talking to you about other issues. But right now I’m talking to you about biomass. And we celebrated that it was dead and it was gone and now it’s not. Because we really don’t know … what the plan is.
By “we” I’m guessing she meant WACE. Some of us who are not members of WACE warned that it ain’t over until it’s over, and it only took a week to discover that VLCIA already knew Sterling Planet wanted to buy the proposed biomass site.

Karen Noll made a pitch based partly on saving taxpayer money. In addressing health concerns, she handed the board a letter from local doctor Craig Bishop. She handed the board a petition with “at least 700 signatures” and she said for each signature there was probably at least one more that didn’t sign. Some of what she said appeared to be drawn from a letter that is appended in this post after the video.

Here’s Part 1 of 2: Continue reading →

How does the hierarchy work? —Mario Bartoletti

Mario Bartoletti, the first to carry a protest sign into a VLCIA board meeting, said that as a member of WACE he wants to know the hierarchy and to whom does VLCIA report.

Sticking to their current policy of never answering directly anything said in Citizens to be Heard, the board did not answer. (My opinion follows in a separate post.)

More about Dr. Bartoletti in this writeup in the VDT by David Rodock of 25 April 2011.

Here’s the video:


How does the hierarchy work? —Mario Bartoletti
Irregular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq