California can do it, and it turns out Brooks County can do it:
install solar hot water heaters on low-cost housing.
In Brooks County, they also installed solar electric panels.
Kevin Skeath explains the 2.03 kilowatt solar electric panels
on an apartment office, 9 solar thermal systems on the apartments,
and how you can reduce your power bill upwards of 30% just by heating
your regular hot water, and even more by using it for heating your rooms.
Appended is my LTE in the VDT today.
I’ve added links. -jsq
What is the Industrial Authority’s plan to bring in real clean jobs?
MAGE SOLAR is hiring for the first of 350 jobs
in its photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing plant in Dublin, Georgia, with half
the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County, with half the
population of Lowndes County. They’ve parlayed their position
between the Atlanta airport and the Savannah seaport for
many new clean jobs.
Suniva of Norcross’s second PV plant with its 500 jobs
went to Michigan.
Saginaw Valley calls itself Solar Valley and collaborates
with governments, academia, and industry, winning thousands of clean
jobs in wind and solar manufacturing and generating plants.
While
Suniva’s new photovoltaic manufacturing plant went to Michigan,
some of Suniva’s customers are in Georgia,
such as
USFloors, which has commissioned a 365kW solar array
using 1,521 panels from Suniva.
That’s in Dalton, about 300 miles north of here.
It’s sunnier here.
-jsq
According to Sven Gustafson in mlive.com, 7 Oct 2009,
Georgia-based solar panel maker Suniva to create 500 jobs at new Michigan plant in Saginaw County
A Georgia-based maker of high-efficiency, low-cost solar panels plans to
open a manufacturing facility in Saginaw County after state officials
approved a new photovoltaic tax credit. The project, which is still
subject to a federal loan, is expected to create 500 jobs.The Michigan Economic Growth Authority in a special session Tuesday
approved the credits for Norcross, Ga.-based Suniva Inc. The company
will get a $15 million refundable credit against its Michigan Business
Tax liability over five years in exchange for its planned $250 million
investment.
Suniva manufactures photovoltaic solar panels.
It was getting so many orders it needed a new plant in addition
to the one it has in Norcross, Georgia.
Those 500 jobs and $250 million in investment could have
come to Georgia.
Maybe they could have come to Lowndes County.
I haven’t been able to find any local government or appointed
official who tried to get it to come here.
Suniva
is still ramping up production in Georgia.
They may eventually need a third plant.
Maybe somebody should talk to them.
-jsq
According to
a press release on their site:
Ravensburg (Germany), 27th September 2010 – MAGE SOLAR, part of the
globally operating MAGE GROUP, in conjunction with Governor Sonny Perdue
and the City of Dublin County of Laurens Development Authority, conducted
its official ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The
highly anticipated event marked the company’s official move of its new
North American headquarters to Dublin, Georgia. Dr. Markus Feil, CEO of
MAGE INDUSTRIE HOLDING AG headquartered in Germany; its Chairman of the
Board, Kurt Rauch, as well as CEO of MAGE SOLAR GMBH, Norbert Philipp,
also from Germany and other US company officials and employees of MAGE
SOLAR, along with key community, political and a multitude of local,
regional and international business leaders attended the momentous event.
That would be Dublin, with half the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County,
with half the population of Lowndes County.
John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham
write about
Solar and Nuclear Costs — The Historic Crossover:
Solar Energy is Now the Better Buy
Solar photovoltaic system costs have fallen steadily for decades. They are projected to fall even farther over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, projected costs for construction of new nuclear plants have risen steadily over the last decade, and they continue to rise. In the past year, the lines have crossed in North Carolina. Electricity from new solar installations is now cheaper than electricity from proposed new nuclear plants. This new development has profound implications for North Carolina’s energy and economic future. Each and every stakeholder in North Carolina’s energy sector — citizens, elected officials, solar power installers and manufacturers, and electric utilities — should recognize this watershed moment.
And North Carolina is north of Georgia, so Georgia should have more sun.
-jsq
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.
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:
.jpg)
Sea Island Co. had
a reputation for immunity to economic whims while over-borrowing and over-expansion?
Hm, they’re not the only ones.
As recently as 28 April 2008 the VDT published a story
“Analyst: Valdosta ‘recession-proof'”:
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, business consultant and president of JobBait.com Mark Hovind ranked every metropolitan statistical area across the country, highlighting those he deemed to be “recession-proof.” The city of Valdosta was the only Georgia city to make the list.
A press release by Southface promises:
Long-term jobs that cannot be exported will also come from developing workers skilled in the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems.
How will that happen?
October 29, 2009 –
Led by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a research institute of the University of Central Florida, six southern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will join together to create a “Southern Regional Resource and Training Program” to train a robust workforce in the installation of solar technologies for the burgeoning solar industry. Southface will deliver solar installation training through its new Green Jobs Training Center, and will serve on the program’s advisory board.
Southface is based in Atlanta.
This is supposed to be a regional program, so maybe we can get some of these jobs right here in Lowndes County.
The DoE says:
Southeast
* University of Central Florida ($2,800,000)
This project will create the Southern Alternative Energy Training Network, which will develop industry-recognized and staff-alternative energy training centers throughout the southern U.S. The resulting programs will create a trained pipeline of workers to meet current and future employment demands needed by the solar industry.
UCF is the coordinator, but there’s no reason a training center couldn’t
be in Valdosta.
Who at VSU should be involved in this?