At the February VLCIA board meeting, Col. Ricketts said groundbreaking
for the solar plant is scheduled for February 21st with production
less than two months after that.
Here you can see his timeline slide.
It’s a bit hard to read, but he mentioned at least these items:
Speaking at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce 28 January 2011,
Industrial Authority Executive Director Brad Lofton
remarked about:
The largest solar panel array that we are aware of today in the state of Georgia. That’s 350 kW solar panel array that you’ll be seeing coming out of the ground February first.
That’s funny, because as readers of this blog may recall, on 18 January 2011 I pointed out to Lofton that: Continue reading
In a generally congenial and well-received speech
to the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce (LPCoC), Industrial
Authority (VLCIA) executive director Brad Lofton
gave an update on various projects and concluded
by asking for input.
“Economic development is a team sport,” he said, and
“Give us ideas” and “There’s one of us and hundreds of you.”
Lofton was introduced by LPCoC chairman Dan Bremer who said that Lofton and VLCIA brought a plant to Lake Park with 400 workers.
In his speech, Lofton lauded the LPCoC as a great incubator of local businesses.
It’s going to come from all of you.He talked about expanding local industries, especially PCA at length, asking David Carmon of PCA to stand up, saying PCA made a $230 million expansion in 2010, and noting “We had to compete for the PCA project.” Continue reading
As
the VDT transcribed:
“I think we can do better than a generator that burns human waste. I think we can do better than a private prison and those are two things that we seem to be excited about as a community.”Dr. Mark George spoke to the Valdosta City Council, 20 Jan 2011:
We’ve previously written about CCA private prisons and AZ immigration law on 21 December 2010:
Considering how many local farmers and others around here use hispanic help without inquiring closely as to where they come from, a CCA prison in Lowndes County would be more than ironic.And in If it’s sunny enough in Buffalo on 16 September 2010: Continue readingSpending state tax dollars to lock people up while cutting funding for education that would cost less per person doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
Is this what we want to be known for?
Continue readingFrom: “Allan Ricketts” <aricketts@industrialauthority.com>
To: John S. Quarterman
Cc: Brad Lofton
Subject: Response to Your Questions to the VLCIA Board of Directors on 18 January 2011
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:01:35 -0500Hello John,
This e-mail is in response to the questions you directed to the VLCIA Board of Directors during the “Citizens to be Heard” portion of the VLCIA Board Meeting on Tuesday, 18 January 2011.
I
asked the VLCIA board (18 Jan 2011)
about my
previously submitted questions about house refitting for insulation and efficiency,
and about rooftop solar,
such as have been successful in Austin and Houston, Texas.
Mary Gooding answered:
“That really would be the city… we’re industrial development.”
She didn’t say which city. There is more than one city in the county. The question as sent to them in writing refered to Hahira; maybe that’s the city she meant. Should Hahira not expect any help from VLCIA?
And what about us who don’t live in any of the cities?
So far, all the new solar rooftop installations are in unincorporated
parts of the county, although
both are in Hahira’s 31632 ZIP code.
Col. Ricketts, at the direction of the board, has since sent me a response, which will lead off tomorrow morning.
VLCIA seemed somewhat confused as to what their protocol is as to answering questions: Continue reading
Did the VLCIA board just back off from its staff’s very close association with Wiregrass Power LLC’s biomass plant?
After pointing out that LAKE posted videos of the entire previous VLCIA board meeting as a proof of concept that if it could be done by a tiny volunteer activist group it could be done by a tax-funded professional staff, and complimenting VLCIA on finally posting videos of their 6 Dec 2010 event a month after LAKE posted videos of the Q&A and the rest of that meeting, I asked the VLCIA board who is going to buy the electricity from the biomass plant. Chairman Jerry Jennett answered:
“That’s not our problem.” [waves hands] “You see, industry comes and it’s his job to sell whatever his output is… the manufacturing plant… the output is electricity…”
So I asked how does that match with Col. Ricketts in the previous board meeting referring to a public/private partnership between VLCIA and Wiregrass Power LLC and frequently saying “we”.
Col. Ricketts responded that he was only referring to the solar plant and the GEFA grant. Well, yes he said that then, but he also said… Continue reading
Richard Read wrote in The Oregonian on 4 Jan 2011,
Oregon homeowners can now go solar with no upfront costs:
Oregonians put off by the high price of renewable energy can now go solar on the cheap, installing panels for no money down.They’re talking $25/month with no money down. That’s a thousand miles north of here, in rainy Oregon. Maybe we should just invite SolarCity to operate here.Contractors in a handful of states are starting to offer solar to the masses with lease deals that eliminate upfront costs. Oregon is joining the trend, thanks to regulations that took effect Jan. 1.
The Portland branch of a national solar company unveiled a lease program Tuesday enabling homeowners to put up panels for low monthly payments, cutting their electricity bills and carbon footprints. At least one other contractor, a local company, is developing similar products.
Managers of SolarCity, a California-based company, say Oregon homeowners can go solar for as little as $20 a month with no up-front costs. The new financing option, which incorporates state and federal tax credits….
-jsq
In a recent message, Brad Lofton wrote
“we plan to move on now and focus our attention on new job and tax revenue creating projects.”
OK, what are those projects?
Back in September Brad Lofton told me that VLCIA had (beyond whatever Wiregrass LLC is doing) “other renewable green energy projects”, which he then refused to describe.
When I asked about these projects at the 21 Dec 2010 VLCIA board meeting, board member Gary Minchew responded that VLCIA couldn’t talk about sensitive negotiations, but they didn’t want to be secretive. Earlier I had been talking to the fellow sitting to my left about his green energy project and whether VLCIA was going to move forward on it. He pointed out to the board that he and I were facebook friends and linked on LinkedIn. He’s sending me some information; more on that when I get it. Meanwhile, I wonder why the board wouldn’t talk about his project, and I remain dubious that VLCIA has any other “renewable green energy projects”.
In that same meeting, Col. Ricketts and Brad Lofton went on for some time about solar energy, saying they were answering citizen concerns.
As one of the people who has asked them most frequently about solar energy, I have to say Continue reading
What is the Industrial Authority’s plan to bring in real clean jobs?
MAGE SOLAR is hiring for the first of 350 jobs in its photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing plant in Dublin, Georgia, with half the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County, with half the population of Lowndes County. They’ve parlayed their position between the Atlanta airport and the Savannah seaport for many new clean jobs.
Suniva of Norcross’s second PV plant with its 500 jobs went to Michigan. Saginaw Valley calls itself Solar Valley and collaborates with governments, academia, and industry, winning thousands of clean jobs in wind and solar manufacturing and generating plants.