Back
in 2009 we installed solar panels on our farm workshop.
At the time the closest certified solar installer I could find was in Marietta.
Four years ago there were 4 in the state.
now there are forty.
And that’s in a state that’s trailing
North Carolina
and even
New Jersey
in solar installations.
Also, I applied some weeks back for a USDA REAP grant for solar
for Okra Paradise Farms.
photograph) that appeared in the Valdosta Daily Times in response to my
earlier piece on
“Solar: Infinite and Clean”. The Valdosta Daily Times
seems to enforce a quota of sorts at this time, so they won’t publish
my additional information for Mr. Blankenship and other “skeptics”.
At the state level you can contact the “Georgia Solar Energy
Association” (www.gasolar.org/)
to learn more about the viability
of solar power in 2011, which is quite different from the situation
in 2001. A larger solar firm our community
Continue reading
Sherry Wheat (Hannah Solar), Sharon Jackson (South GA Solar Power), Ron Jackson (Production Community Services), Bill Branham (21st Century Telecom), ?, Dr. Dennis Marks (Chair), Matt Jansen (Boys and Girls Club), John S. Quarterman (Okra Paradise Farms), ReKasa Deen (VLCoC Opportunity Central)
picture by Myrna Ballard (VLCoC President) for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Sherry Wheat of Hannah Solar drove down from Atlanta to help me announce that Okra Paradise Farms got the USDA REAP grant we applied for, to add about 52 solar panels to our farm workshop. Hannah Solar helped us submit the paperwork in 3 days. More on that as it transpires.
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Greentechsolar has an interesting article 28 Sep 2011 on
Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins.
in which is a top 10 list for solar.
Here are some excerpts:
Why not just say jobs, jobs, jobs? Because solar also doesn’t pollute the air and doesn’t suck up ground water. Not just jobs: clean jobs that don’t drain our resources.
- A job is a job is a job.
With all this talk about green jobs, clean jobs, and other kinds of jobs — how about we just call it a job? A job that puts food on the table, pays the bills, keeps the kids in clothes, and affords the occasional family night out. And, if you subscribe to the belief that all is lost due to the Chinese PV manufacturing juggernaut, keep in mind that you can’t export the thousands of business development, sales, design, engineering, installation, and service jobs we’re going to need every year.
But opinion only matters if the data supports it. Solar is one of the only industries adding private sector jobs in our struggling economy — with 6.8 percent growth from August 2010 to August 2011, when overall U.S. job growth was only 0.7 percent and when fossil fuel generators actually cut jobs by 2 percent. It’s estimated the United States already has over 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar panels. That’s more than in either steel production or coal mining (not including transportation and power plant employment).Yes, while road and bridge building projects may bring in a few temporary construction jobs, solar brings construction jobs plus all sorts of other jobs plus long-term jobs. Long-term jobs in the fastest-growing industry in the world: Continue reading
State Sen. Bill Montford, right, congratulates Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Gardner on the National Solar Power’s massive solar farm project.
With the excitement of a massive solar-energy farm coming to the community still fresh on their minds, Gadsden County businesses are looking ahead to the potential such a project could have on the local economy.I look forward to seeing Myrna Ballard in such a picture. Or Andrea Schruijer.Monday’s announcement by National Solar Power was a discussion topic Wednesday at the “Go Gadsden” breakfast of the Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce. The invited speaker, state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, told the gathering the project’s impact will extend well beyond the county.
“This is good for Gadsden County, but it’s good for all of North Florida,” Montford said during the breakfast at the Florida Public Safety Institute in Midway. “We believe it’s just the beginning.”
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If we are to believe Fox News and the Tea Party, solar doesn’t workContinue readingbecause the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went belly up, despite the fact that it received $535 million in subsidies. While wasting an enormous amount of tax dollars on a company with a flawed business concept should raise everyone’s eyebrows, the conclusion that the Solyndra mess means “solar doesn’t work” is mind-boggling. It’s like saying “cars don’t work” because Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009, or “T-shirts don’t work” because Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 in 1999.
Solar is one of the most attractive renewable sources of energy throughout
I thanked the Commission for doing the right thing about the
CHIP grant.
And for at least three people sitting up front (Evans, Paulk, and Pritchard)
lowering their monitors so citizens (and even
cameras) could see their faces.
Then I relayed the news about the
$1.5 billion investment in Gadsden County, Florida
for a 400 MW solar project.
Plus ongoing jobs, expanded education, private sources of investment,
and customers for the electricity.
Unlike the failed local biomass project,
National Solar Power’s Gadsden County project already has
Progress Energy signed up as a customer for its electricity.
I recommended that the Commission go on record as being in favor of such
projects locally.
Here’s the video:
Thanks for CHIP and lower monitors; also solar –John S. Quarterman @ LCC 27 Sep 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Plus ongoing jobs, expanded education, private sources of investment, and customers for the electricity.
According to SolarServer quoting a National Solar press release yesterday, National Solar Power chooses Gadsden County, Florida for 400 MW PV project
The company estimates that the 400 MW project will create 400 jobs during the five-year construction phase and up to 120 permanent operations jobs.And that’s not all. According to Solar Energy News today, Plan to build $1.5bn solar farm in Florida, Continue reading
local governments and businesses don’t have to wait
on the state.
For example, the
Lowndes County Commission has opened a discussion about solar energy
in response to a presentation by Bill Branham.
Now that they’ve learned
that
solar is cost-effective in the same way buying a car is,
that
there are two fast-growing solar manufacturers in Georgia
(
Suniva of Norcross
and
MAGE SOLAR of Dublin),
with associated potential jobs right here in south Georgia,
and
about
the extraordinary negative side of coal mining,
If the LCC won’t do it, how about solar Valdosta fire departments, or solar Hahira tobacco barns?
-jsq
Solar Summit in Atlanta, in which we learned
there were four certified solar installers in Georgia four years ago,
and now there are forty;
that
oil for energy
is a national security risk (Col. Dan Nolan),
and that
“Solar is great for diversity, independence, research, and business.” (Chuck Eaton),
and that
Georgia is the third top state “that would benefit from solar deployment through generating and exporting energy to other states” (Richard Polich).
Sounds like a business opportunity to me!
GSEA chair Doug Beebe elaborates in a column in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on 11 September 2011, Solar energy already works in Georgia, but it can do so much more for our state’s economy,
This has been a great year for the Georgia Solar Energy Association, too. Our membership has swelled to almost 300 corporate and individual members. This number includes manufacturers, installers, integrators, consultants and advocates who want to see Georgia benefit from an industry that contributed more than $5 billion in economic activity to the U.S. gross domestic product since 2008 and now employs more than 93,000 workers nationwide.Great, huh? So what’s the problem? This: Continue readingOur annual Southern Solar Summit in Atlanta this summer sold out, filling the auditorium at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center with Georgians eager to learn what innovations are making solar power more accessible in Georgia and beyond. Another annual Solar Summit in Savannah last month doubled its attendance this year, proving that interest in solar has spread beyond metro Atlanta.
The 2011 Georgia Solar Tour will feature sites statewide. We hope that some of the participants in this year’s tour will become hosts in next year’s.