Tag Archives: Richmond Hill

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.

Continue reading →

Private investment in utility-scale solar plants

After the ribbon cutting for the new Tabby Solar and Lower Rates for Customers installation in Richmond Hill, I asked Dr. Sidney Smith about using electric meter technology for utility-scale solar plants, for example 1-5 megawatts, for which there is private venture capital seeking opportunities.

Here’s Part 1 of 2:


Private investment in utility-scale solar plants Part 1 of 2:
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.

Dr. Smith said that was possible, plus he’d already been talking to some potential German investors,

If our system works as we have designed, they’d like to invest 100 million or more.

That would be quite a bit of solar energy!

Here’s Part 2 of 2:


Private investment in utility-scale solar plants Part 2 of 2:
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.

You can help by calling your state senator about
SB 459.

-jsq

Enabling a commodity market in solar power: Dr. Smith’s electric meters

Dr. Smith’s electric meters enable a commodity market
in solar power, with billing from generators to customers.
And EMCs can take 1% or so for carrying the power,
plus they can get advertising rights that could be
worth more than selling electricity!
If
SB 459 or something like it gets out of committee and into law.



Dr. Sidney Smith explained how the electric meter he’s developed
uses cellular technology to facilitate direct billing from
solar generator and customer.
Gretchen asked him what if they generate more than they use.
Dr. Smith said they wouldn’t.
I asked what if they added more panels.
He said they could, but there are trees in the back.

Here’s

Part 1 of 5:




Enabling a commodity market in solar power: Dr. Smith’s electric meters Part 1 of 5:

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.


He forgot about

the parking lot out front where the panels
he just connected are located: no shading there, and plenty of room for more solar panels.

Dr. Smith said the best places for solar are where there is no shade
and near power poles.
Gretchen asked how do you finance?
Dr. Smith answered,

Continue reading →

Cutting the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill 2012 02 17



Drs. Sidney Smith and Pat Godbey and their customer
cut the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill, Georgia,
17 Febuary 2012:

To commemorate the future of power in Georgia
and the future for our children.

I didn’t get the customer’s name; sorry.

You, too, could be a customer or a seller of distributed solar power
if SB 459 gets
out of committee and through the Georgia Senate and legislature
into law.
Contact your state senator today!

-jsq

Here’s

the video:




Cutting the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill 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.

-jsq

Can you imagine the power company coming and cutting our power off? —Dr. Sidney Smith 2012 02 17



Dr. Smith speculated that Georgia Power might try to stop
solar installations like

the one he just opened in Richmond Hill
last Friday.

But can you imagine the power company coming
and cutting our power off


and telling Dr. [inaudible] he has to pay more money?
I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Does Georgia Power really want to be seen opposing

Lower Rates for Customers?

Maybe so, since Georgia Power



opposes SB 401, which would

facilitate exactly what Dr. Smith is doing.
You can help pass SB 401.
Call

your state senator, or

sign the petition.

Here’s

the video:




Can you imagine the power company coming and cutting our power off? —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.

Our goal is simply to make power available to all people
at the lowest rates….

He remarked this was their second installation.
The first was at the

Driftaway Cafe.
They have another planned.
A fourth one was supposed to be at a nearby orphanage,
but Georgia Power wouldn’t allow it.

-jsq

Does Georgia Power own the sunshine?



While

opening a solar site in Richmond Hill last Friday, Dr. Sidney Smith said Georgia Power thinks it owns your sunshine:

It’s a personal freedom issue and a personal rights issue.
And also it’s an issue of our future generations.

But I know that we’re going to come out on top….
The reason we’re going to come out on top.
You’re going to choose a higher power bill, or a lower power bill?
Now, I know you’re going to say I want a lower power bill.

Here’s

the video:




Does Georgia Power own the sunshine?

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.

As Dr. Smith

told the AP a few days later:

We have a property rights issue: Who owns the sunshine, and does a
property owner get to do anything he wants with it?” Smith said.
“Georgia Power says he can use it to grow grass, get a sunburn, but
he’s not allowed to change it to electricity. That’s not correct.”



And it goes beyond just generating your own power for
lower rates for yourself as a customer.
Why not be able to sell it to somebody else who wants it, too?

This is just the first step.
In a way and a process that we’re ultimately going to be able
to sell power out of Bryan County back to Atlanta,
bringing dollars back from Atlanta to Bryan County.

And Lowndes County can do the same.
Atlanta wants our water?
Sell them sunshine instead!

SB 401 can help with that.
If you want it to pass,
you can

sign the petition
or

call your state senator.

-jsq

Selling Solar Power in Richmond Hill: Lower Rates for Customers LLC 2012 02 17



While Georgia Power

invokes forty-year-old territoriality laws
to try to prevent you from selling or buying solar power with
whomever you want to,
Drs. Sidney Smith and Pat Godbey continue to open new solar power
installations, this time in Richmond Hill, Georgia last Friday.

Dr. Sidney Smith said the new installation lowers
the customer’s electricity rate and doesn’t raise it for two years.

The emailed invitation:

Lower Rates for Customers LLC celebrates the second installation of
selling power to South Eastern Pathology Associates at 1pm Friday February
17th at the Georgia Skin and Cancer Clinic located at 9665 Ford Avenue
Richmond Hill, Georgia 31324.

Join us to celebrate the expansion of our company in Bryan County as we
lower the power bills for another customer. We will continue to lower
our customers electric bills by 1% and fix their rates for two years.

We look forward to seeing you.

Dr. Sidney Smith and Dr. Pat Godbey

I don’t think Georgia Power is going to offer that rate, are they?
No, I don’t think so.

But that’s just the start.

What we’re doing though is we’re creating a system where this
communicates with software.
What our real goal is
is to go to
south Georgia farmers


and say put solar panels on your property, and
we’ll connect those to the grid.
Sell power through the grid, and we’ll give credit to somebody else
in the state who wants it.

He gave an example.

If you live in Atlanta, you don’t have any property to put solar
panels on, do you?
I think there’s are a lot of people in Atlanta
who would like to rent some property right now, don’t you think?

How about if you could actually, out in the county,
have an income that would last forever?
That would be an investment that you could make today,
that a generation in the future would be able to take advantage of.
And the possibility of that happening is real.



The only thing that stands between that happening,
and our future being very different,
is legislation.
They’re actually passing some bills now,
that solidify
the fact that I can put this on this property.

Georgia Power right now…

Georgia Power

opposes SB 401, which is the bill Dr. Smith was referring to.

If you want SB 401 to pass, you can

sign the petition
or

call your state senator.

Here’s

the video:

Continue reading →