Sumter County may go solar: where’s Lowndes County?

Sumter County gets it about solar power, independence and jobs. Where’s Lowndes County?

So how big is this National Solar project that Sumter County may get? Steve Leone wrote for Renewable Energy World, Seven Communities Waiting for the Sun in Southeastern U.S.:

The project will be a network of 20 solar farms, each of which will span 200 acres and generate 20 MW. It would be much larger than the 80 MW solar power plant in Ontario, Canada, currently the world’s largest.
The finalists are:
The communities selected by National Solar Power as finalists to become the location of the development are Gadsden, Hardee, Osceola and Suwannee counties in Florida, Sumter and Tatnall counties in Georgia and Guilford County in North Carolina.
And Lowndes County isn’t even in the running. Why not?
The criteria for the site is the amount of undeveloped land, support from the community and local businesses as well as a qualified workforce and economic development.
See National Solar’s press release.

We’ve got plenty of land in Lowndes County, and we claim to be work-ready. There is growing support from the community. But where is Industrial Authority on this? This National Solar project is much bigger than the biomass plant VLCIA wasted more than a hundred thousand of our tax dollars on:

National Solar Power says its project could create 400 jobs during its five-year construction phase and up to 120 additional permanent jobs. Once an agreement is in place, the company will begin construction plans, and the first phase could be completed within six months from the start of construction. It remains unclear how long it would take between a site selection and the start of construction.

Each of the 20 farm segments represents a $70 million investment, according to the company, and over the construction, it says it will be a nearly $1.5 billion investment in one of the seven communities.

The Chamber of Commerce is starting to rev up. Maybe they’ll lead.

Or maybe VLCIA will lead under new management by Andrea Schruijer.

Maybe we’ll even hear a mayor with vision. Or maybe even a County Commission Chairman with vision.

-jsq