Tag Archives: Putnam County

Energy efficiency is cost-effective –Another @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Someone made a very good case for the cost-effectivness of energy efficiency


for saving money, health, and comfort,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
He didn’t start by saying his name, and I had a camera battery replacement
about that time, but most of his talk is here.

Here’s

the video:



Energy efficiency is cost-effective –Another

Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,

Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),

Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.

-jsq

Geothermal and net zero –Unknown @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

“I’d like to see Georgia Power… provide a geothermal and solar net zero
energy concept for the project that could act as a demonstration project
for them as well,”


said someone unknown from Putnam County,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
(This is why to always say your name when you speak.)
Could have been

Putnam County Commissioner Alan Foster.
He also asked for a convention center, golf course, and lakefront activities
area, and naturally at least one Public Service Commissioner latched
onto the golf course.
The speaker said his “vision” involved privatization.
Seems to me the problem is the existing privatization of the GA PSC.

Here’s

the video:



Geothermal and net zero –Unknown

Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,

Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),

Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.

-jsq

Moving on and finances –Billy Webster, Putnam County Commission @ GA PSC 2013-06-18



“This year we’re not even going to be able to hold the line on the millage rate,”
said Billy Webster, Putnam County Commissioner,
at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
He wants Georgia Power to do something to help reinvent the Plant Branch property.
He asked GA PSC to help Putnam County do that.

Here’s

the video:



Moving on and finances –Billy Webster, Putnam County Commission

Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,

Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),

Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.

-jsq

Water and Economy –Bill W. Sharp, Vice Chair, Putnam Development Authority @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Bill W. Sharp, Vice Chair of the



Putnam Development Authority noted Georgia Power had water permits
and asked three things at

the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013:

  1. Currently Georgia Power has a permit to use water from Lake Sinclair.
    We would ask to use this permit for the
    for the economic development of Putnam County.
  2. We would ask you to encourage Georgia Power to assist in bringing
    new industry to our area through their vast network of economic development.


  3. …commit to maintain the current full level of Lake Sinclair and Lake
    Oconee in order to continue the developments around the lake.

Chairman Eaton said the PSC was in a difficult position.
Sharp said he understood business and praised Georgia Power yet again, but:

From our standpoint
we’d like them to help us get on with life
and make life better in Putnam County
by helping us find this development.
Let’s go out and create some new ideas.
And they can do that.
And we’d like you to encourage them with your power and your prowess.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →

Putnam County Manager wants solar to replace coal @ GA PSC 2013-06-18



Putnam County sent a delegation to


the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
You’ve already seen

Rep. Rusty Kidd; next up was the Putnam County manager.

County Manager

Paul Van Haute
said
$175,000 in SPLOST money from

Putnam County


Paul Van Haute, Putnam County Manager
Unfortunately we had budgeted
$275,000,
so we’re about
$100,000 a year short
based on our estimates.
That is directly attributable to the loss of coal sales from Plant Branch.
Also on top of that we’re losing about $950,000 to $980,000 of property tax.
That is about one seventh of our property tax receipts.
This is a very big impact to the community.

About then he was interrupted by Chairman Chuck Eaton, who asked: Continue reading →

“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 →

Where would Georgia Solar Utilities Inc. get enough land for 80 MW solar generation?


Plant Branch in Georgia
Where will
Georgia Solar Utilities Inc.
get

the 2,200 acres it says it needs to build 80 MW of solar generation?
Well, it’s supposed to be “adjacent to Georgia Power Co’s coal-burning Plant Branch near Milledgeville, Ga.”, so let’s look there.


Plant Branch Location Map
A

brochure on Plant Branch by Georgia Power
(undated, but last date mentioned is 1998, so I’m guessing 1999)
says:

Located on 1,900 acres on Lake Sinclair in Putnam County between
Eatonton and Milledgeville, Plant Branch was the first
million-plus-kilowatt electric generating station to operate on the
Georgia Power system. It is named for Harllee Branch Jr., former
chairman of the board of Southern Company and president of Georgia
Power. Construction on the plant began in 1961, and by the summer of
1969,

Coal pouring onto pile
four units were in operation. The 1,539,000 kilowatts
generated by Plant Branch provides enough electrical power for
342,000 households.

And now Plant Branch will be among the first to close coal-generating
units.
According to
Melissa Stiers for GPB News 12 July 2011,

Georgia Power Closing Three Plants,

Two coal fired units at Plant Branch in Milledgeville will close in
2013. That’s a result of federal regulation tightening air pollution
controls. The company has said it’s too costly to upgrade those
units.


Plant Branch across Lake Sinclair
As we know, Georgia Power’s parent The Southern Company

claimed it was incompetent to deal with the new EPA regulations
even though it had already announced the Plant Branch closures (amounting to about 770 MW),
and later SO announced

4,000 MW of coal plant closures.

While the various news stories keep saying Plant Branch is in Milledgeville,
actually, it’s on the other side of Lake Sinclair, closer to Eatonville,

Plant Branch site in Putnam County qpublic map
and in Putnam County.
A quick glance at the

Putnam County Tax Assessor database maps
shows that the land parcel containing Plant Branch
is 913.87 acres, much of which isn’t actually used by the plant.
And Georgia Power owns a total of more than 3,000 acres adjacent
to that site.
So I’m guessing the 2,200 acres figure is simply around 3,100 total
Georgia Power acres minus 913 acres for the present Plant Branch site.

Estimates for land needed for a megawatt of solar power generation range

Continue reading →

Georgia Power plans to decertify two coal plants



According to gapower’s own press release:

ATLANTA, March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Georgia Power expects to request
approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission to decertify two
coal-generating units totaling 569 megawatts, the company announced
Wednesday.



The request to decertify units 1 and 2 at Plant Branch in Putnam Co. will
be included in Georgia Power’s updated Integrated Resource Plan filing
with the commission in late summer. The company expects to ask for
decertification of the units as of the effective dates of the Georgia
Multipollutant Rule, which are currently anticipated to be Dec. 31,
2013 for unit 1 and Oct. 1, 2013 for unit 2.

The decision to decertify the units is based on a need to install
environmental controls to meet a variety of existing and expected
environmental regulations.

“After an extensive analysis of the cost to comply with environmental
regulations, we have determined the continued operation of these units
would be uneconomical for our customers,” said Georgia Power President
and CEO Paul Bowers. “This decision is in keeping with our focus to
provide affordable and reliable electricity for our customers.”

This matches with

a report from last July that gapower was turning away from coal.
And they

suspended work on Plant Branch a year ago.
Unfortunately, mostly they’re turning to natural gas and nuclear.

Continue reading →