{"id":6461,"date":"2013-10-31T12:02:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T16:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=6461"},"modified":"2013-10-31T12:03:40","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T16:03:40","slug":"citizens-for-solar-power-ga-leg-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/citizens-for-solar-power-ga-leg-not-so-much.html","title":{"rendered":"Citizens for solar power; GA leg. not so much"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nUtility backers in the Georgia legislature tried scare tactics\r\nto stop HB 657<\/a>\r\n(or anything else) from requiring more solar power from Georgia Power.\r\nStill no solar tax, said citizens in\r\n\r\nSavannah<\/a>,\r\n\r\nColumbus<\/a>,\r\n\r\nGainesville<\/a>,\r\n\r\nAthens<\/a>,\r\nand now Atlanta.\r\n

\r\nWalter C. Jones wrote for the Florida Times-Union 31 October 2013,\r\n\r\nOutlook for solar bill isn’t bright in Georgia<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nNot sure why\r\n\r\nthis picture of me<\/a> illustrates this story on facebook\r\n(I wasn’t at the hearing in Atlanta),\r\nbut hey, why not.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nClaudia Collier with Green Georgia drove from Savannah to speak at\r\nthe hearing.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“This bill will give us direct choice in where our electricity\r\ncomes from,” she said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nRep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, pointed to the amount of solar\r\ngeneration the Public Service Commission ordered Georgia Power to\r\nacquire this year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“It looks like the PSC is already managing the\r\nsituation,” he said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAs\r\n\r\nSouthern Company CEO Tom Fanning and Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers\r\nwell know<\/a>, even when Georgia Power deploys\r\n\r\nthat additional 525 megawatts of solar power<\/a>,\r\nit will still only be finally matching what\r\n\r\nNew Jersey has deployed right now<\/a>.\r\nThat\r\n\r\n525 megawatts<\/a>\r\ndoubled\r\n\r\nlast year’s 210 megawatts<\/a>,\r\nand if sunny Georgia is going to catch up with northern New Jersey\r\nand solar world leader far northern Germany,\r\nGeorgia Power needs to keep doubling every year.\r\n

\r\nIf Georgia Power doesn’t, people will find ways anyway to put\r\nsolar panels on their roofs, and, as\r\n\r\nelectric utility think tank Edison Electric reported earlier this year<\/a>,\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nthat is a disruptive development that will burn the utilities’\r\ncozy century-old baseload capacity business model.\r\nMoore’s Law for solar is going to\r\n\r\nkeep driving solar deployments up like compound interest<\/a>,\r\nif not in Georgia, in other states like Michigan and New Jersey.\r\nEventually Georgia Power and Southern Company will have to\r\nstop dragging their feet and catch up.\r\nAnd catching up will require building out solar faster<\/em>\r\nthan\r\nthe current 65% a year compound deployment rate.\r\n

\r\nWhy not now?\r\nAs Tom Fanning suggested at the Southern Company stockholder\r\nmeeting back in May:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAnother way to think about those resources, John — and we’re\r\njust considering all this right now in this tiger team — is\r\nthe idea to think about a rooftop not as a customer-owned or\r\n“we own” kind of resource, but as a potential site. And\r\nwhat we’ll pay the home is a site lease. Isn’t that interesting?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nYes, very interesting.\r\nIf I could have just had the power company (Colquitt EMC in my case)\r\nfinance and install solar panels on my roof, I probably would have\r\ngone for that instead of jumping through all sorts of hoops to get\r\nfinancing and still getting only 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour for\r\nthe excess electricity\r\nI sell instead of the 10 cents I pay to CEMC.\r\nThe success of SolarCity, which Fanning and Bowers are watching very closely,\r\nindicates that many people would go for that.\r\n<\/P>\r\n

\r\nBack to Atlanta yesterday:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nKidd admitted he’s no expert on solar power but that he sees the\r\nbill as an opportunity for rural landowners to lease their property\r\nto solar companies, creating jobs and income for rural counties.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHey, there’s an idea!\r\n\r\nlet the sunshine bring jobs to rural counties that need them<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe sun is already rising on Georgia.\r\nNot even Georgia Power can stop that.\r\n

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