Tag Archives: Planning

“Great, big” SO is 1/10 Australia for solar farm deployment in Georgia


Solar Megawatts 2012-10-11
So if Southern Company is a “great, big company” similar to Australia,
why did Australia just deploy a solar farm ten times the size of
the biggest one SO has in Georgia?

Back in May, Southern Company (SO) CEO

Thomas A. Fanning said:

From an energy standpoint, Southern Company is a little bit smaller,
but similar to, the energy production profile of the nation of
Australia. We are a great, big company from an energy production
standpoint.

Meanwhile in Australia,
Giles Parkinson wrote for Clean Technica 10 October 2012,

Australia’s 1st Utility-Scale Solar Farm Now On!



At about 11am local time near the Western Australian town of
Geraldton this morning, Australia’s first-utility scale solar farm
was officially switched on.

It was a suitably sunny day (blighted by three million flies) and
although just 10MW in size, and built courtesy of funding from the
local government, a state-owned utility and by one of the wealthiest
companies on the planet, it may presage a dramatic change in the way
this country produces energy.

So what’s SO or Georgia Power’s biggest solar plant in Georgia?
You remember,

1 MW in Upson.

OK, to be fair, that’s just Georgia Power.
SO does have larger solar farms elsewhere, including

Now I know Georgia Power’s party line is that solar is only good in the U.S.
southwest.
But I don’t know how that explains

Continue reading →

4 rezonings (one big), 3 water items, and more @ VCC 2012-10-11


200 West Jane Street
The item with 9 conditions, VA-2012-14,
is at a rather vague location,
“the southeast corner of West Brookwood Drive, North Oak Street,
North Toombs Street, and West Jane Street”
which presumably means
200 W Jane St, as shown in the map here.
That’s directly across W. Toombs Street from 1302 N Patterson Street,
which is part of VSU.

Here’s

the agenda.

-jsq

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, October 11, 2012

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →

Waste disposal discussions with Richard Raines —Gretchen Quarterman @ LCC 2012-10-09


Gretchen Quarterman
Waste disposal issues in Lowndes County are more complex than one might think,
and transparent processes could help citizens understand these stewardship
issues, while helping the local government do its job.

Commissioner Raines called me yesterday evening after I had left him
a voice mail and an e-mail letting him know that I had some
questions.

I was particularly curious about the proposals

in column “F” which asked for:

Contractor(s) agrees to provide an independent proposal option to
address residential solid waste, bulky item, yard waste and
recyclable materials collection, transportation and disposal,
collection center management and related customer service, records,
billing and payment processing services for unincorporated Lowndes
County residents.

Proposal “F” Pricing —

Residential solid waste, bulky item, yard waste and recyclable
materials collection, transportation and disposal, collection
center management and related customer service, records, billing
and payment processing services.

$______________ per month/subscriber

This was an opportunity for the vendors to provide some option that
the county had not asked for but used their expertise in waste
disposal and offer a creative solution.


Lowndes County Solid Waste RFP Summary Sheet October 9, 2012

The prices in column “F” ranged from $8.33 to $19.95 to “Negotiate”.

Commissioner Raines briefly explained what had been submitted by
each vendor and it became clear that there was not a creative
winning solution proposed there. In fact, submitting a “Negotiate
Rates and Program” is clearly a failure.

We then went on to discuss at length the whole solid waste disposal
history, problems, options, and so on. Commissioner Raines stressed
his focus

Continue reading →

Solar and broadband are good for the economy and for PR

When

the Industrial Authority came out for solar and broadband
WCTV noticed.
It seems solar and broadband are good not only in themselves,
but also for good PR for the community.
PR that might attract the kinds of businesses the Industrial Authority
is looking for.



WCTV wrote 9 September 2012,

Solar Power and Broadband Internet Could Boost Local Job Growth,

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority has put a spot
light on solar power and broadband internet. That’s according to a
new analysis of regional businesses and employment. They say it will
be a way to generate job growth going forward. Many in the community
agree.

Valdosta Resident Mark Yates said “if they could bring those all in,
it would be great for the economy and bring a lot of jobs for a lot
of people in town here.”

That’s how Saginaw, Michigan, attracted that second Suniva plant
away from Georgia:



it has a plan for solar industry and it gets it in the news.
Way better than

worrying what Albany thinks, don’t you think?

By the way, Saginaw also goes for wind manufacturing jobs,
and we already have one wind manufacturing business right here; more on that
later.

It sure would be good if the Industrial Authority,
with its 1 mil tax rate or almost $3 million a year,
could succeed in attracting some jobs here:

Continue reading →

Videos: Water, water, water, waste! and planning? @ LCC 2012-10-08


The big news
was the
waste disposal railroad, but the Lowndes County Commission also
heard about three water issues (one a rezoning), plus a beer
license, revenue bonds, community planning month, and a health fair
at its Work Session this morning.

Here’s the
agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes, or links to
separate posts.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd
Floor

Continue reading →

Lowndes County Solid Waste RFP Summary Sheet @ LCC 2012-10-08

This is the summary sheet Kevin Beals presented

at the Lowndes County Commission Work Session this morning.


Assuming the dollar figures in the table are monthly charges to the end user,
note that the only one that comes out less than the current $100/year
is the $8.33 in the lower right corner: $8.33 * 12 = $99.96.
Presumably plus tax, since this would be a private service.
So if the Commission chooses any of these options, we the current
waste disposal customers will have to pay more.

The upper end of $19.95 (upper right corner) comes to $239.40 per year.
Or 140% more than the current price.
A bit more to a lot more: that’s what we’ll have to pay.
Plus

the socialized costs of privatizing waste disposal,
such as code enforcement to pick up trash dumped on rights of way,
private fences and gates built to keep trash out, and other costs.



Average is somewhere around $13/month, for $156/year.
If they simply charged that for the current service,
the already rapidly decreasing budget deficit for waste disposal
would vanish,
and there would be no need to change to something else.

If you want to see the actual proposals summarized in this table,
you can file

an open records request.
According to

the County Clerk’s web page:

Once a request is received, Lowndes County will notify the
requesting party within 3 days regarding the availability of
information.

So if you file it today, you’ll get a response of some sort within
two days after they vote on waste management tomorrow.

Does this seem right to you?

-jsq

Waste disposal railroad by County Commission @ LCC 2012-10-08



The Lowndes County Commission plans to vote tomorrow evening
to privatize waste disposal in the unincorporated areas of the county,
after numerous discussions at meetings the public were unaware of,
without any public hearings, and regardless of whether the people want it.

County Manager Joe Pritchard talked about

“a long, long process”
they’d been through, including at the Commissioners’ retreat.

You remember,

Although I don’t recall it being there last night when I picked up

the agenda,
the RFP is now

linked into the county’s front web page
(copy

on the LAKE website).

At this morning’s meeting,
Kevin Beals,

Lowndes County Development Reviewer,
addressed the Commissioners and

said,

Continue reading →

Ethics Matter —David Staples for GA PSC

Received 2 October 2012 from David Staples. -jsq

One of the most frequent topics that comes up in political


conversation these days is ethics. On July 31st, Georgians
overwhelmingly voted that there needs to be a cap on the amount of
gifts our elected officials are allowed to accept. However, there
are many of us who believe that even a $100 per day cap is still too
much—that perhaps $0 is a better cap. After all, looking at
the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
website, one can see that while the $150 rounds of golf and several
hundred dollar dinners for the official and their spouse may be
eliminated, there are many more of the smaller lunches, dinners, and
various other goodies that would still be allowed. Would you be
surprised to hear that some Public Service Commissioners walk out of
their office or a hearing at lunch time and say “I’m hungry, where’s
a lobbyist”?

However, there is one completely legal process by which we can
eliminate all gifts

Continue reading →

What Georgia Power is afraid of: GaSU and Dr. Smith; and you

So what is Georgia Power afraid of

that made their CEO Paul Bowers double down on old-style baseload?
Competition, that’s what!
What could be more scary in the power-monopoly state of the

1973 Territorial Electric Service Act?


GaSU sun
On one side, Georgia Power faces

GaSU and its 80 or 90 MW solar plant proposal.
Walter C. Jones wrote for OnlineAthens 24 September 2012,

Proposed solar company could stir up Georgia’s utility structure,

A proposal from a start-up business promises to lower electricity
rates by rebating profits to customers if given a chance to compete
as Georgia Power Co.’s “mirror image.”


GaSU fb profile image
To proceed with its long-range plan of developing 2 gigawatts of
solar power, the start-up, Georgia Solar Utilities Inc., wants to
start by building an 80-megawatt “solar farm” near
Milledgeville as soon as it gets a green light from the Georgia
Public Service Commission. GaSU filed its request last week, and as
of Monday, it’s still too fresh for public evaluation.

So radical is the proposal that spokespersons for Georgia Power and
the Georgia Solar Energy Association said they still were evaluating
it and could not comment.

Groups that normally advocate for customers also are staying quiet.

GaSU executives recognize such a big change won’t come easily.

Continue reading →

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-09-25

Fewer speakers at the Regular Session
than at the

previous morning’s Work Session
of the Lowndes County Commission.
The longest item was

a citizen wishing to be heard, who only spoke for 3 and a half minutes.
Up until then, the meeting took five minutes, as the Chairman noted.
And everything was adopted unanimously, with little or no discussion.

Here’s

the agenda,
annotated below with links to the videos and a few notes,
and followed by

a video playlist.



  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval




    First the Chairman welcomed Leadership Lowndes.

    Then both sets of minutes were
    unanimously approved with no changes.

    1. Work Session — September 10, 2012
    2. Regular Session — September 11, 2012
  5. For Consideration


    1. Bevel Creek Lift Station Repair       —Mike Allen

      The total for the wastewater lift station
      was still $38,969 with the budget impact being
      the insurance deductible.
      Unanimously approved.



    2. Dell Lease Agreement for Sheriff’s Office Laptops       —Aaron Kostyu

      Six years ago the Sheriff’s Dept. leased some laptops;
      plan was always to roll new laptops into the lease;
      that will be done using drug seizure funds.
      Unanimously approved.

    3. Contract with Corporate Health Partners

      County Manager Joe Pritchard said they had started looking
      into wellness plans several years ago,
      $260,000 in savings in health care expenses so far;
      partnership with SGMC and YMCA.
      Commissioner Joyce Evans wanted to know how regularly
      it would be monitoried.
      Answer: quarterly.
      Commissioner Richard Raines moved to approve

      Corporate Health Partners      ,
      except instead of a three year contract,
      an initial one year with two one-year extensions.
      Unanimously approved.



    4. Agreement with Basic Life

      Joe Pritchard alluded to

      yesterday’s presentation from Chris Park(? Clark?)
      recommending a change to basic life coverage,
      with an approximate annual savings of slightly over $10,000.
      Unanimously approved.

  6. Reports-County Manager

    Joe Pritchard had no report.

  7. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address



    Chairman Ashley Paulk noted it was 5:35, and then

    Ken Klanicki spoke
    for 3 and a half minutes, the longest item in the meeting,
    after which
    they adjourned.


Video Playlist

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 September 2012.

-jsq