{"id":19392,"date":"2017-11-16T13:44:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T18:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=19392"},"modified":"2017-11-16T13:44:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T18:44:20","slug":"development-authority-sells-land-for-solar-arrays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/development-authority-sells-land-for-solar-arrays.html","title":{"rendered":"Development Authority sells land for solar arrays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nNext to ERCO Worldwide<\/a>,\r\none of the few tenants in\r\nVLCIA’s “eight industrial parks”<\/a>,\r\nSolAmerica is buying land for a solar farm\r\nthat will take up most of the rest of the Perimeter East Business Park.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Site<\/a>\r\n
\r\nSite Layout submitted by SolAmerica to VLCIA in 14 November 2017 meeting.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nJason A. Smith, VDT, 15 November 2017,\r\n\r\nSolar arrays planned for land<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThe Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority voted Tuesday to\r\napprove the sale of 27.42 acres for $137,100 to be used for solar\r\narrays.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Parcel<\/a>\r\n
\r\nParcel 0186 074, Lowndes County Tax Assessors<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe property is located\r\n\r\n behind the Erco World Wide on 700 Hunt Road\r\nand the Perimeter East Business Park.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"VLCIA<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nVLCIA map of Perimeter East Business Park<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe company looking to purchase the property, SolAmerica, reached\r\nout to the VLDA’s staff a couple of months ago with interest in the\r\nproperty, said Andrea Schruijer, Development Authority executive\r\ndirector.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe company is wanting to put a solar array on the property that\r\nwould generate three megawatts of power, she said. The project\r\ncurrently represents more than $1 million in capital investments.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe property has been on the authority’s books for more than 20\r\nyears but has not been accessible due to land owners on all sides of\r\nthe property, she said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAlthough the authority approved to sell the property for $137,100,\r\nor $5,000 per acre, it was appraised for $120,000, or $4,300 per\r\nacre. So, the authority would be selling the property slightly above\r\nfair-market value.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe story notes SolAmerica is still bidding with Georgia Power to sell\r\nthe electricity generated, and the deal includes 24 months after that\r\nduring which VLCIA can repurchase the property if the solar panels\r\nhave not been installed.\r\n

\r\nThe story also quotes its board member Mary Gooding:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“…we can take a piece of property that was of very little use or promise and put it to good — very green, good use.”\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhat a sea change from six years ago when I asked VLCIA about solar power<\/a> and the\r\nsame Mary Gooding said:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“That really would be the city… we’re industrial\r\ndevelopment.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nCongratulations on turning to the sun, Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority!\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Due<\/a>\r\n
\r\nGoogle map of new solar site top center, Mud Creek WTP bottom center.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThose solar panels in the industrial park will be about two miles north\r\nof Valdosta’s\r\n\r\nmegawatt-plus array at its Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Mud<\/a>\r\n
\r\nGoogle map of Valdosta’s Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, with solar panels visible.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nValdosta has since installed solar panels at its new Withlacoochee WTP (pictures to come),\r\nat its old, closed, WWTP (pictures to come), at its old closed landfill on Val Tech Road<\/a>,\r\nand at its police firing range, apparently off of US 133 (pictures to come if can get police escort).\r\n

\r\nBack\r\n\r\nin 2015 I asked VLCIA about solar panels at the airport<\/a>,\r\nand\r\n\r\nthis year the Airport Authority did that<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Access<\/a>\r\n
\r\nPhoto: Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, 16 August 2017.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSolAmerica this year\r\n\r\ninstalled 769 KW of solar panels at Langboard, just across the Withlacoochee River in Brooks County<\/a>.\r\nOn Burnt Church Road in Lanier County, near the Alapaha River,\r\n\r\nfour years ago Invenergy installed two megawatts of solar panels<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nJust across the state line,\r\n\r\nDuke Energy is building a 75 megawatt solar farm on 550 acres in Hamilton County<\/a>,\r\na bit east of the Withlacoochee River and right next to the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline, of which Duke is a 7.5% owner.\r\nNext county south across the Suwannee River,\r\nDuke already installed 8.8 megawatts of solar panels on 62 acres<\/a>\r\njust east of its Suwannee Power Plant.\r\nTwo solar plants the size of that one in Hamilton County would produce more\r\npower than the natural gas units at Duke’s Suwannee Power Plant,\r\nand Duke plans to build “nine or more” of them.\r\n

\r\nI could go on, but I think the picture is clear: solar panels all around.\r\nEverybody else is profiting.\r\nThe Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority can do more to promote solar power.\r\n

\r\nSince two years ago the state of Georgia passed a law enabling third-party financing of solar panels<\/a>,\r\nthe Development Authority could use its bond-issuing authority to finance\r\nrooftop solar power for local businesses.\r\nOr sell off more idle industrial park land to finance it.\r\nOr use some of their 1 mil of property tax money to do that.\r\nIt’s a thought.\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>\r\n

Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today<\/a>!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next to ERCO Worldwide, one of the few tenants in VLCIA’s “eight industrial parks”, SolAmerica is buying land for a solar farm that will take up most of the rest of the Perimeter East Business Park. Site Layout submitted by SolAmerica to VLCIA in 14 November 2017 meeting. Jason A. Smith, VDT, 15 November 2017, […]","protected":false},"author":3,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24,178,450],"tags":[1587,143,10032,8701,368,9713,8296,8702,10030,12,7,9453,5220,9128,10033,6597,10034,8714,223,10031,6,7905,180,8749,8768],"class_list":["post-19392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar","category-vlcia","category-vlpra","tag-brooks-county","tag-duke-energy","tag-erco-worldwide","tag-georgia","tag-hamilton-county","tag-hunt-road","tag-knights-creek","tag-lake","tag-langboard","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-mcwtp","tag-mud-creek-wastewater-treatment-plant","tag-mud-swamp","tag-perimeter-east-business-park","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-solamerica","tag-solar","tag-suwannee-county","tag-suwannee-power-plant","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-development-authority","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vlcia","tag-vlpra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-52M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19394,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions\/19394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}