Somebody told me a few weeks ago there’s a big solar farm near Lakeland. He was not very specific about where, but it’s big: two megawatts, organized by a company out of Chicago. Can anybody point me to where it is so I can go take pictures?
Evergreen Solar Services says,
2.0 MW Lakeland, GA
Completed in 2014, 2 — 1.0 MW Georgia Power ASI projects. Fixed tilt PV with central inverters, medium voltage interconnected.
You can see by this Evergreen Solar Services picture that at least one set of panels (facing south) is next to an east-west road where a north-south road joins at a T intersection. Where exactly that is, none of the participating companies seem to say.
I can’t find any mention by Georgia Power of this solar installation. However, GA PSC shows in its Docket #1 “Electric Non-Docket 1997”, along with numerous Georgia Power Company filings, this one:
| Filing # | Company Name: | Filed Date: | Received Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150604 | Lakeland Solar Energy, LLC | 11/15/2013 | 11/15/2013 | Regulations copy of Notice of Self-Certification of Exempt Wholesale Generator status that Lakeland Solar Energy, LLC filed with FERC. |
That links to a Federal Register page that gives a docket number of EG14-13-000. Looking that up gets: Notice of Effectiveness of Exempt Wholesale Generator or Foreign Utility Company Status: A Notice by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on 02/27/2014,
Lakeland Solar Energy LLC EG14-13-000 New AERG, LLC EG14-14-000 Ameren Energy Generating Company EG14-15-000 Société de cogénération de St-Félicien, Société en commandite FC14-10-000 Take notice that during the month of January 2014, the status of the above-captioned entities as Exempt Wholesale Generators or Foreign Utility Companies became effective by operation of the Commission’s regulations. 18 CFR 366.7(a).Show citation box
Dated: February 20, 2014.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-04280 Filed 2-26-14; 8:45 am]
OK, so using FERC’s document search finds Invenergy’s 28 April 2014 filing with FERC of Form 561 Annual Report of Interlocking Positions for calendar year 2013 under ID-4613, et. al., which shows five Invenergy people with interlocking positions with Lakeland Solar Energy LLC: Michael J. Baird, Joseph Condo, James T. Murphy, Michael Polsky, and James J. Shield. Which is fascinating, but still doesn’t tell us where Lakeland Solar Farm is.
Lakeland Solar Energy LLC is filed with Georgia Secretary of State as a Delaware LLC, with principal office One South Wacker Drive Suite 1900, Chicago, IL 60606. It shows no officers and no local address in Georgia. Lanier County Tax Assessor shows no land owned by Lakeland Solar Energy, nor by Invenergy.
The engineering company, Blue Oak Energy Inc., doesn’t seem to have anything on this installation; they apparently usually go for much bigger ones.
Here’s Invenergy PR of 23 December 2013, Invenergy Announces Commercial Operations at Lakeland Solar Farms
CHICAGO, Illinois—(December 23, 2013) — Today, Invenergy Clean Power LLC (“Invenergy”) announced the recent completion of construction and the start of commercial operations of its Lakeland Solar Farms (“Lakeland”), located approximately 20 miles northeast of Valdosta, Georgia.
Lakeland consists of two 1 MW solar photovoltaic facilities in Lanier County. Output from the plants is sold to Georgia Power under long-term power purchase agreements, awarded to Invenergy under the utility’s Medium-Scale Advanced Solar Initiative.
“Lakeland is our first power generation facility in Georgia, and we’re really pleased to create a new source of clean, homegrown energy in Lanier County,” said Jim Shield, Chief Development Officer at Invenergy. “We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received, and are proud to invest in the local area. Invenergy looks forward to a longterm, successful relationship with our host community.”
Construction on Lakeland began in October of 2013 and created 50 temporary jobs. Evergreen Solar Services served as the general
contractor, and Blue Oak Energy Inc. performed engineering duties. The solar farms bring further economic benefit through annual property tax payments.
Lakeland, which features more than 6,800 photovoltaic (PV) solar modules, is operated and maintained by Invenergy Services, an affiliate of Invenergy.
About Invenergy
Invenergy and its affiliated companies develop, own and operate large-scale renewable and other clean energy generation facilities in North America and Europe. North America’s largest independent wind power generation company, Invenergy is committed to clean power alternatives and continued innovation in electricity generation. The company’s home office is located in Chicago and it has regional development offices throughout the United States and in Canada and Europe.
Invenergy has developed approximately 8,000 MW of clean energy projects that are in operation, in construction, or under contract, including 63 wind, solar, and natural gas power facilities. For more information, please visit www.invenergyllc.com.
# # #
Contact:
Alissa Krinsky
Director of Communications
312-582-1554 or akrinsky@invenergyllc.com
Update 7:50 AM 1 May 2014: And here’s the location.
-jsq
Short Link:
John.
I mentioned this plant to you at the Earth Day Festival at VSU. I just discovered it myself the day before when I was visiting friends in Lakeland. At the time I could only estimate that it was more than 1 MW. It seems like we are almost hiding such plants, likely because utility companies don’t want us to know about the solar success story that keeps unfolding (plenty of clean energy and jobs) while they force us to pay for such boondoggles as Vogtle.
When you drive to Lakeland, and before you get into town, turn right onto Burnt Church Road. Stay on that road for a bit more than a mile and the solar plant comes up on your left side. The solar panels do not seem to have the micro-inverters yet our newest solar array in Valdosta does (near the Mud Creek Water Treatment Facility) but they are doing just fine, producing clean and renewable energy!
Michael G. Noll, President
Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy
Ah, it was you. Well, don’t you appreciate a little suspense? See this morning’s post: two other people also came forward with the location. And as the original post yesterday said, no, this Lakeland Solar Farm does not have microinverters; it uses central inverters, according to Evergreen Solar Services, which did the installation.
-jsq