{"id":20296,"date":"2018-07-11T16:09:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=20296"},"modified":"2018-07-11T16:09:50","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:09:50","slug":"solar-and-wind-can-power-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/solar-and-wind-can-power-georgia.html","title":{"rendered":"Solar and wind can power Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nSolar power is here right now. Georgia is #10 in the nation (up from #22 in 2017)\r\nby solar deployed (1,552.98 MW) and #7 in projected growth,\r\naccording to\r\n\r\nthe Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)<\/a>. \r\nThat’s ahead of Florida, but still behind much farther north New Jersey and Massachusetts, which have less sun.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Graph:<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nGraph: Top 10 Solar Power States, SEIA, Paul Horn, Inside Climate News<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThis Georgia solar improvement is despite Southern Company and Georgia Power cutting back on\r\nrenewable energy investment last year and a hostile federal administration.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Graph:<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nGraph: Georgia’s Solar Boom, SEIA and Paul Horn, InsideClimateNews<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSheer economies of scale continue decreasing solar prices and driving\r\nmore solar installations, with more jobs.\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"SEIA<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nGraph: SEIA<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe only other power source with prices dropping anywhere near that fast is wind.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Historical<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nHistorical averaage levelized cost of electricty, 2009-2017; data Lazard estimates; graph Paul Horn, InsideClimate News<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAnd there’s a lot more wind off the Georgia coast than Georgia Power would want you to believe.\r\nJennette Gayer, Environment Georgia, Press Release, 28 March 2018,\r\n\r\nOffshore wind cOffshore Winds Enough to Power Georgia<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nWinds blowing off the Georgia coast could provide enough electricity\r\neach year to power the state at current energy use levels, according\r\nto a report released today by Environment Georgia. If Georgia\r\nconverted all activities currently powered by gasoline, natural gas\r\nand other fossil fuels (like transportation and home heating) to\r\nelectricity, the energy provided by offshore wind turbines could\r\nstill produce 70 percent of the power needed to run the entire\r\nstate.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSolar power could supply the rest, especially with batteries.\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“We’re facing rising seas, intensifying storms, and old and\r\nnew health threats — because we’ve relied so long on dirty\r\nenergy sources,” said Jennette Gayer, of Environment Georgia.\r\n“But sitting right here next to us is the Atlantic Coast, and\r\nit’s a massive source of totally clean power. Let’s just say\r\n‘thank you, Mother Nature,’ and do what we should have done in\r\nthe first place — harness the wind.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nWhile offshore wind is a proven technology overseas, it has been\r\nslow to take off in the United States. To date, only one wind farm\r\nis operating in the U.S., off the coast of Rhode Island. Meanwhile,\r\nEurope hosts 4,100 offshore wind turbines that supply enough\r\nelectricity to power more than 20 million homes each day. But more\r\nAmerican offshore wind is on the horizon: There are now 13 leased\r\noffshore wind projects moving forward in the U.S., which could\r\nprovide enough electricity to power approximately 5.2 million homes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“U.S. deployment of offshore wind is no longer out of reach\r\n— it is a reality that continues to gain momentum all along\r\nthe Atlantic Coast,” said Mary Hallisey the Senior Director of\r\nPlanning and Operations with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy\r\nInstitute. “Coastal waters along the southeastern states hold\r\ngreat potential for offshore wind and we should take advantage of\r\nthe opportunity to move forward with this clean energy\r\noption.”…\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“This is not your father’s offshore wind,” said Gayer.\r\n“With improved technology and declining costs, harnessing the\r\nabundant, pollution-free energy off our coasts makes more sense than\r\never.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSo far as I know, Georgia Power is still “studying” offshore wind<\/a>.\r\nThe Environment Georgia study indicates the time for just studying is over.\r\n

\r\nFor solar power, there is for sure no need for further study.\r\nWe got to #10 due to concerted pressure by Sierra Club, Environment Georgia, WWALS, and many others. It’s time for GWC to join in and help Georgia get on with sun and wind power to shut down all fossil fuel and nuclear plants. \r\n

\r\nJames Bruggers, InsideClimateNews, 14 June 2018,\r\n\r\nHow Georgia Became a Top 10 Solar State, With Lawmakers Barely\r\nLifting a Finger: The state has plenty of sun, but little support\r\nfor solar power in the legislature. Here’s how a Republican who goes\r\nby ‘Bubba’ changed the energy landscape.<\/a>\r\n

\r\nDithering is already costing us jobs, industry, and money.\r\nRobynne Boyd, NRDC, 8 May 2017,\r\n\r\nOffshore Wind: A Southern Thing?\r\nThe Southeast has the hospitable weather and the shallow waters\u2014but does it have the will?<\/a>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nIn the end, it may be jealousy that causes the South to take the\r\nplunge. If the Northeast becomes a mecca for offshore wind, the\r\neconomic benefits will be worthy of envy. But by then, there’s a\r\nrisk that the South may have missed the boat. For while small\r\ncomponents of the supply chain will pop up anywhere offshore wind\r\ndevelops, the strongest links—the manufacturing of large\r\ncomponents (nacelles, towers, and blades), which are transportable\r\nonly by water—will go where the majority of wind farms are, in\r\nYankee territory.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd we’ve already seen this happen elsewhere.\r\nReporter, EnergyVoice, Aberdeen Journals Limited, 25 June 2018,\r\n\r\nBlow to Wick harbour over Moray East windfarm<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nWick harbour bosses have been dealt a blow after\r\n\r\nFraserburgh was chosen<\/a>\r\nto become the operations and maintenance base of Moray\r\nOffshore Renewables Ltd (MORL).\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThey had been in the running, along with Buckie, to service the\r\nmassive new wind farm being developed in the Outer Moray Firth.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nWillie Watt, chairman of Wick Harbour Authority, said: “It’s\r\ndisappointing news for Wick and Caithness but MORL changed their\r\nstrategy for the operations, management and maintenance of their\r\nwind farm and we just couldn’t compete for that. If we had the big\r\nquay which we’re planning to develop, we would have been in pole\r\nposition to win the work.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhat did Wick (upper center in the map) in Caithness lose to Fraserburgh (lower right in the map) much farther away in Aberdeenshire?\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Map,<\/a>\r\n
\r\nMap: \r\n\r\nMoray East: The Project, by Moray Offshore<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nDavid Proctor, Energy Voice, Aberdeen Journals Limited, 19 June 2018, \r\n\r\nFraserburgh Harbour set for boost with wind farm project<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nA north-east town is in line for a boost after becoming the front\r\nrunner for a lucrative wind farm project.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFraserburgh Harbour is the favourite to land the contract for a new\r\nmaintenance centre connected to the Moray East Offshore Windfarm.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe centre will play a crucial part in the multi-million pound\r\nproject, to build nearly 100 turbines in the Moray Firth.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe deal — which will create dozens of jobs and allow NesCol\r\nto provide specialist training — was last night hailed as a\r\nvote of confidence in the facilities at Fraserburgh Harbour.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nUnlike sparsely populated and remote Caithness (the most northerly\r\ncounty on the mainland of Britain),\r\nGeorgia has plenty of port and other facilities on its coast.\r\nSo it’s pure lack of political will that is leaving Georgia\r\nand the southeast behind the U.S. northeast in wind power.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"SEIA<\/a>\r\n
\r\n\r\nGraph: SEIA<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSolar and wind power continue to dominate new electric power deployments.\r\nGeorgia and Florida can either get on board or be left behind.\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>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solar power is here right now. Georgia is #10 in the nation (up from #22 in 2017) by solar deployed (1,552.98 MW) and #7 in projected growth, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). That’s ahead of Florida, but still behind much farther north New Jersey and Massachusetts, which have less sun. Graph: Top […]","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":[14,18,24,36],"tags":[2862,10383,10380,8704,10386,10382,8701,2461,8708,10385,8702,12,7,10384,1980,26,8714,108,1288,6,10381,8716],"class_list":["post-20296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-georgia-power","category-solar","category-wind","tag-solar-energy-industries-association","tag-aberdeenshire","tag-caithness","tag-economy","tag-environment-georgia","tag-fraserburgh","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-bight","tag-georgia-power","tag-jennette-gayer","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-moray-firth","tag-nrdc","tag-seia","tag-solar","tag-southern-company","tag-tybee-island","tag-valdosta","tag-wick","tag-wind"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-5hm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20296","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=20296"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20298,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20296\/revisions\/20298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}