Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Help pass GA Senate Bill 401 to facilitate distributed power cogeneration
SB 401 intends to modernize Georgia law to make distributed power generation
easier.
You
can help.
Drs Sidney Smith and Pat Godbey
not only
have started Tabby Power, which sells solar power directly to customers.
They also have an outfit called
Lower Rates for Customers,
which is about generating solar power in one place and selling it in another.
There are various legal impediments to doing that.
Essentially, customers with solar panels meter not only power coming
into their house from the existing grid, but also the amount of
power returned to the grid. The generating company — Georgia Power
in most of the state — is required to buy surplus power back based
on their state granted regulated monopoly status. Currently,
projects are limited in size to 10 Kw for residential customers and
100 Kw for business customers. SB 401 removes these caps.
More intricate details of the bill provide for private ownership of
these systems, as opposed to current law which requires the owner of
the property to also own the attached grids. This will allow for
manufacturers of solar grids or interested third parties to enter
into financing or lease agreements which pay for the systems long
term out of cost savings for the customer. By allowing for these
arrangements, many customers can access these systems with no money
up front, as opposed to the high initial capital costs which would
take years to recover.
We’ve seen Doug Stoner before,
at last June’s Southern Solar Summit,
talking about renewable energy.
It looks like he and others are actually trying to do something about it.
into their house from the existing grid, but also the amount of power returned to the grid. The generating company — Georgia Power in most of the state — is required to buy surplus power back based on their state granted regulated monopoly status. Currently, projects are limited in size to 10 Kw for residential customers and 100 Kw for business customers. SB 401 removes these caps.
these systems, as opposed to current law which requires the owner of the property to also own the attached grids. This will allow for manufacturers of solar grids or interested third parties to enter into financing or lease agreements which pay for the systems long term out of cost savings for the customer. By allowing for these arrangements, many customers can access these systems with no money up front, as opposed to the high initial capital costs which would take years to recover.