Luckie Street Solar Project

So whose solar parking lot is that in Atlanta?

According to Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, Luckie Street Solar Project (New Development)

157 Luckie St NW, Atlanta, GA 30303
CATEGORY: Institutional Development
Developer: Turner Enterprises
Solar panels added to a surface parking lot that will produce nearly 200 kilowatt hours of energy, making this the largest solar project installed in Downtown Atlanta
$1 million
Completed 2011

That’s 20 cents per kilowatt hour. Which won’t take many years to pay for itself.

Why did Ted Turner do this? According to Maria Saporta for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, 10 December 1010, Ted Turner builds solar project on parking lot next to his building,

“I wanted to do something solar right here in Atlanta as a demonstration project. It is an experiment and demonstration project. When the whole thing gets done, it’s going to power the building and the restaurant.”

“In the summer time, the cars get to park in the shade. It’s using the sun, and that’s free. It helps us with our power.”

It sure beats coal or biomass:

Turner officials estimate the project will mean that 82 metric tons of CO2 emissions will not be going into the atmosphere ever year, the equivalent of 9,209 gallons of gasoline. It also equals the amount of carbon removed annually from the air by 17.5 acres of pine forest.

It’s also good for promoting the city and the local area:

It also could become a tourist attraction in its own right. The route of the Atlanta Streetcar project, which recently received a $47.6 million federal grant, will travel along three bordering streets of the parking lot.

I’ll attest to the attraction part; we were just walking along the street and saw it.

Let’s see, who around here would have the wherewithall to do something like this as a demonstration project, and power their buildings while they’re at it?

-jsq