Tag Archives: Georgia

Could Facebook Spread The Solar Gospel Throughout The South?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Facebook has had some public relations setbacks lately, but one of the items on its long-term agenda that consistently gets it good press is the fact that it has started demanding clean energy – specifically solar – power its energy-intensive data centers.

In Virginia, for example, Dominion Energy had to create an entirely new type of agreement and build several solar farms so the state would be considered as a potential site for one of the data centers. We’ve seen these developments across the country, and it’s one of the unalloyed goods that Facebook has done.

So the question becomes: Could Facebook spread the solar gospel to other southern states? A recent agreement in Georgia provides some evidence that the answer to the question could be yes.

[wds id=”3″]

Walton Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), a consumer-owned utility with a reputation for energy innovation, has executed contracts with two solar developers for three new solar projects as part of its agreement to supply 100 percent renewable energy for Facebook’s data center in Newton County, Georgia. The collaboration is the largest solar development project in Georgia.

Facebook chose Walton EMC as the power supplier for the Newton Data Center when it announced the 970,000 square foot facility in March.

Silicon Ranch and Strata Solar will construct world-class solar power plants that will support the new data center. The facilities will be located in Southwest Georgia.

“We are thrilled to be working with Walton EMC, Silicon Ranch and Strata Solar to bring more than 200 megawatts (mW) of new solar resources to Georgia,” said Rachel Peterson, vice president of data center strategy for Facebook. “We are committed to supporting all of Facebook’s operations with 100 percent renewable energy, and these new solar facilities will help us meet that goal for our Newton Data Center. Developing these resources within the same electric grid that supports our data center will bring even more investment to the region.”

The Newton Data Center is Facebook’s ninth such state-of-the-art facility in the country. The centers are among the most advanced, energy-efficient facilities in the world. They use 38 percent less electricity than the average data center.

Utility Monopoly Slows Rooftop Solar Growth In Georgia

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In the past five years, solar capacity in Georgia has gone through the roof. It’s grown so fast, in fact, that it is ranked as the 10th largest solar state according to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s annual rankings.

But just because it’s grown rapidly doesn’t mean it’s grown evenly. The growth Georgia has seen has mostly accrued to the state’s largest utility, Georgia Power, instead of individuals and businesses owning their own rooftop systems.

One group – Solarize Middle Georgia – is looking to even the playing field a bit, at least according to an article in the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph.

[wds id=”3″]

This isn’t the first Solarize movement to take up residence in the Peach State. As the article states:

Similar initiatives have taken place in other Georgia communities, like Athens-Clarke County, where residents are able to sign up for free evaluations that could help determine if solar is a worthy investment.

“The price of solar has come down 70 percent since 2010,” said Don Moreland, executive director of Solar CrowdSource who is also involved in Solarize Middle Georgia, told the Telegraph. “Some of the incentives that used to be in place have gone away. Solar is now competitive with what you would otherwise pay for the utility bill. … You come out way ahead with solar compared to other electric bills.”

Overall, the story is a good one, though there are a couple of flaws. One is that it misdiagnoses the module glut of the early 2000s as a “too many companies” problem rather than a “too many panels” problem. They also overestimate the costs of solar and make it seem more expensive than it really is.

But the key here is that rooftop solar, despite having no governmental support (no net metering, for example), is coming to the middle of the state. And when that segment of the industry takes off, there will be no stopping solar growth in the state.

More:

Georgia is full of solar power, but not among homeowners. This group wants to change that.

Creditors Spar In Court Over Suniva Solar Cell Production Assets (Full Complaint Attached)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

You had to know Suniva would come to this, right? Nothing – and I mean nothing – has come easy with this company.

First, it filed a trade complaint, only to get bigfooted to almost an afterthought on its own complaint by its “co-petitioner” SolarWorld. Then it won the case, which led to SolarWorld being purchased by competitor SunPower and Suniva to be…sold for parts.

But now that we had finally moved on to the selling off of assets, even THAT can’t go smoothly for the poor bankrupt module manufacturer. Now two of its creditors are fighting over the production equipment, with one accusing the other of being in the pocket of Canadian Solar and trying to kill the competition (ignoring the obvious fact that Suniva hasn’t produced panel in at least two years).

Will those poor Suniva folks ever catch a break?

[wds id=”3″]

SQN Financial, the creditor that once offered to sell out Suniva’s trade case for $55 million to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, has filed a complaint with the bankruptcy court that is overseeing Suniva’s dismantling accusing Lions Point, another Suniva creditor, of trying to force SQN to remove the solar cell production equipment from the company’s former Norcross factory. SQN argues that moving the equipment out of the factory would immediately devalue it (think of the devaluation of driving a new car off the lot) and force SQN to sell the equipment for far less than it is actually worth (in their estimation).

But the most interesting part of the complaint (which you can read below) is the section where SQN explains why IT thinks Lions Point is demanding the equipment be moved. It claims that Lions Point owns a stake in Canadian Solar, a Chinese module manufacturer, that is seven times more valuable than their stake in Suniva. They write in the complaint:

To be sure, according to Lion Point’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Lion Point owns approximately 1,920,085 shares in Canadian Solar—one of the three largest solar companies in the world by revenue—that are valued at approximately $31,239,000(US) and constitutes Lion Point’s fifth largest equity holding. Lion Point also has an outstanding loan to Canadian Solar of approximately $14,341,000(US). Lion Point’s $45 million investment in Canadian Solar stands in stark contrast to its approximately $6 million investment in the Debtor [Editor’s note: Suniva].

As we said, we’re not sure how they can argue Suniva competes with Canadian Solar, given that Suniva hasn’t produced a module in more than two years. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter – the case continues to drag on, leaving scars on Suniva’s former employees that will never fully heal. And that’s a damn shame.

SQNComplaint

Georgia Group Offers Model Solar Zoning Guide To Streamline Project Siting

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Solar power is expanding its reach throughout the country rapidly – so rapidly, in fact, that some communities are struggling with issues like permitting, siting and other ancillary-but-essential parts of the project process. In some states, that confusion is causing communities to reject solar out of hand as being too complicated to do.

A group of researchers out of Emory University in Atlanta, seeing the problems that were arising as its own state moved speedily to a solar future, decided to do something to mitigate the struggles by publishing a sample zoning ordinance for municipalities thinking about going solar, which includes a Georgia Model Solar Zoning Ordinance and accompanying educational guide.

Publicity for the guide kicked off today with an Op-Ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[wds id=”3″]

The authors, Caroline Reiser and Mindy Goldstein, write:

We’re started down the right path in Georgia. But to make sure we don’t get misdirected, clear land use standards and good information about solar development are necessary. The Georgia Model Solar Zoning Ordinance we just published paves the way.

These are not just issues in Georgia, of course. But the guide comes only a few days after Georgia Power announced it was soliciting 100 MW worth of distributed generation projects, which means more projects in small towns around the state. The guide is an effort to head of NIMBY-ism and help everyone understand best practices when it comes to siting solar projects in the state.

As the authors put it in their AJC piece:

We’ve already seen communities push back against solar development planned in inappropriate locations. The question is what comes next. … Georgia may be running down the right path, but it still can get tripped up. If Georgia wants it keep up the pace, it has to get smart.

More states need to come up with similar guidelines because solar is coming soon to your town – and it’s best that you be prepared rather than let it take you by surprise.