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<\/a>\n<\/a>\nSolar Summit<\/a> in Atlanta, in which we learned\nthere were four certified solar installers in Georgia four years ago,\nand now there are forty;\nthat\noil for energy\nis a national security risk (Col. Dan Nolan)<\/a>,\nand that\n\n“Solar is great for diversity, independence, research, and business.” (Chuck Eaton)<\/a>,\nand that\n\nGeorgia is the third top state “that would benefit from solar deployment through generating and exporting energy to other states” (Richard Polich).<\/a>\nSounds like a business opportunity to me!\n\nGSEA chair Doug Beebe elaborates in a column in the Atlanta Business Chronicle\non 11 September 2011,\n\nSolar energy already works in Georgia, but it can do so much more for our state\u2019s economy<\/a>,\n \nOur annual Southern Solar Summit in Atlanta this summer sold out, filling\nthe auditorium at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center\nwith Georgians eager to learn what innovations are making solar power\nmore accessible in Georgia and beyond. Another annual Solar Summit\nin Savannah last month doubled its attendance this year, proving that\ninterest in solar has spread beyond metro Atlanta.\n \nThe 2011 Georgia Solar Tour will feature sites statewide. We hope that\nsome of the participants in this year’s tour will become hosts in\nnext year’s.\n<\/blockquote>\nGreat, huh?\nSo what’s the problem?\nThis:\n\n\n \nGeorgia remains one of only three states with specific legal barriers to\nprivate, third-party Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Almost half the\nstates, 21, have legal PPA frameworks, according to the U.S. Department\nof Energy. In many other states, PPAs have helped make solar energy more\naffordable and have paved the way to creative strategies that make solar\nenergy more widely available at every level of the economic spectrum.\n \nAnd our state also has no official goal for renewable energy as a\nproportion of its total consumption. The U.S. Department of Energy\nreports that 29 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have established\nrenewable portfolio goals.\n \nFinally, some homeowners’ associations, unaware of the value-enhancing\ncontribution of solar installations to neighborhood property, resist\nresidents’ efforts to deploy solar within reasonable aesthetic\nguidelines.\n<\/blockquote>\nAll that plus local governments and businesses don’t have to wait\non the state:\nsee\n\nnext post.<\/a>\n \nPS: Owed to Bill Branham.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in June, the Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) held a Solar Summit in Atlanta, in which we learned there were four certified solar installers in Georgia four years ago, and now there are forty; that oil for energy is a national security risk (Col. Dan Nolan), and that “Solar is great for diversity, independence, […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,14,15,2,23,24],"tags":[3701,8701,2339,8713,8714],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-economy","category-education","category-government","category-renewable-energy","category-solar","tag-bill-branham","tag-georgia","tag-gsea","tag-renewable-energy","tag-solar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-o0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nThis has been a great year for the Georgia Solar Energy Association,\ntoo. Our membership has swelled to almost 300 corporate and individual\nmembers. This number includes manufacturers, installers, integrators,\nconsultants and advocates who want to see Georgia benefit from an\nindustry that contributed more than $5 billion in economic activity to\nthe U.S. gross domestic product since 2008 and now employs more than\n93,000 workers nationwide.\n
\nBut, sadly, Georgia\u2019s portion of the fast-growing solar market is tiny\n\u2013 less than 1 percent \u2013 because Georgia\u2019s leadership has not yet\nembraced many of the policy initiatives that spurred solar investment to\nflourish in places like New Jersey and North Carolina. Yet, a University\nof Arizona study shows that Georgia ranks third in the nation for solar\nenergy potential.\n