Category Archives: Solar

Industrial Authority Projects

Kara Ramos writes in the VDT today about Building industry: A look at current Industrial Authority projects. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority has quite a few interesting projects projected. It will be interesting to see which of them pan out.
Members were in agreement that while there are many students graduating from area colleges, they are moving to other cities to find higher paying jobs. Some board members agreed the local workforce needs improvement to enhance the work of current employees, improve the skills of unemployed individuals, and create more job openings.
Can’t argue with that.

The controversial aspects of the Wiregrass Power, LLC biomass project are not discussed in the article. Instead, the tiny accompanying solar plant gets some press: Continue reading →

Biomass Air Quality Hearing Set

This appears to be the date and location for the Georgia EPD air quality hearing for the Wiregrass Biomass plant proposed for Valdosta:
6:30 PM, 27 April 2010
Multipurpose Room
Valdosta City Hall Annex
300 North Lee Street
Valdosta, Georgia
We’ve been waiting on this date for a while. EPD is going to send a press release to the VDT a few weeks in advance and post it on its own website, www.georgiaair.org. Assuming, of course, that the date and place don’t change again.

Why should you care? This plant proposes to burn sewage sludge, which can release numerous hazardous chemicals into the air. Here is Seth’s letter to the editor of the VDT of 21 Feb 2010: Continue reading →

Solar Clubhouse

Johnna Pinholster writes in the VDT about The Residences at Five Points:
Benoit introduced Scott Clark from SolTherm, who will partner with Ambling on The Residences at Five Points.

The eco-friendly business out of Asheville, N.C., will oversee the construction of 23 solar panels on the roof of the complex’s clubhouse.

Those panels, Clark said, will provide between 50 and 60 percent of the clubhouse’s energy, Clark said.

Well, it’s a start. But why not solar panels on the roofs of the residences? And why a company out of Asheville when there are at least three companies in Valdosta who could have done that part?

Encouraging New Energy Production Via Solar

While Georgia did little to deploy renewable energy, Texas has almost doubled its renewable energy source from 2004 to 2006:

How did Texas do that, and how can Valdosta and Lowndes County help Georgia catch up?

Some years back, Austin, Texas, which has been growing rapidly for decades, needed to find a way to produce more energy. Building a coal plant was not really an option for a city that had long sold itself as a home of green industry. Nuclear had a bad taste because in the 1980s Austin had been an investor in the South Texas Nuclear project, which had been late, over budget, never produced what it was supposed to, and had many political problems. So Austin settled on a new plan: instead of spending big bucks to build a dirty coal plant, use the same money to give rebates to homeowners and businesses for installing solar power. Big rebates: 75%, the largest, and among the first in the country. This made perfect economic sense, producing as much new energy as needed, without coal or nuclear, and distributed where it was needed.

Now Austin is trying a new wrinkle:

The Austin, Texas, city council has approved Austin Energy’s solar incentive program, which includes a new approach for commercial, multifamily and nonprofit customers. The new approach saves $2.4 million over the life of the program, according to the utility.
Continue reading →

Solar panels from Lowe’s or Home Depot

Chris Kahn writes in Mail Times about Solar power coming to a store near you:
Solar technology is going where it has never gone before: onto the shelves at retail stores where do-it-yourselfers can now plunk a panel into a shopping cart and bring it home to install.

Lowe’s has begun stocking solar panels at its California stores and plans to roll them out across the country next year.

This shows how far the highest of the high-tech alternative energy technologies has come. Solar power is now accessible to anyone with a ladder, a power drill, and the gumption to climb up on a roof and install the panels themselves.

You can’t get tham at Lowe’s of Valdosta yet.

The article also says Home Depot offers panels on its web pages.

In either case, to get the Georgia 35% state tax installation rebate you’d have to have them installed by a certified Georgia solar installer.

Even so, commodity solar panels in doit it yourself stores is a big step. If nothing else, it should keep prices down on panels bought through installers.

And if you really want to buy them yourself, what appear to be the same 80 watt Sharp panels Lowe’s lists on its web pages go for $343 at Affordable Solar online. The article says Lowe’s sells 175 watt panels; Home Depot lists those for $997.97. Affordable Solar list them for $594; plus shipping, of course. Solar Blvd lists them for $541.50. Or you can buy panels with more wattage, or more panels. If you want to buy your own solar panels, you can.

You can also find out your local rebates and sales tax exemptions online from DSIRE.

Longterm local jobs that cannot be exported: solar installation

A press release by Southface promises:
Long-term jobs that cannot be exported will also come from developing workers skilled in the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems.
How will that happen?
October 29, 2009 –
Led by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a research institute of the University of Central Florida, six southern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will join together to create a “Southern Regional Resource and Training Program” to train a robust workforce in the installation of solar technologies for the burgeoning solar industry. Southface will deliver solar installation training through its new Green Jobs Training Center, and will serve on the program’s advisory board.
Southface is based in Atlanta. This is supposed to be a regional program, so maybe we can get some of these jobs right here in Lowndes County. The DoE says:
Southeast
* University of Central Florida ($2,800,000)
This project will create the Southern Alternative Energy Training Network, which will develop industry-recognized and staff-alternative energy training centers throughout the southern U.S. The resulting programs will create a trained pipeline of workers to meet current and future employment demands needed by the solar industry.
UCF is the coordinator, but there’s no reason a training center couldn’t be in Valdosta. Who at VSU should be involved in this?

Florida Gets Smart About Solar

While Georgia goes for questionable biomass, WCTV reports that CFO Sink Applauds Opening Of Solar Energy Center, Welcomes $200 million in federal funding for Florida.
Florida CFO Alex Sink welcomed the news that a $200 million grant will go to Energy Smart Florida for the installation of 2.6 million smart meters in homes and the installation of advanced monitoring systems in grid substations.

CFO Sink commended President Obama for his commitment to new energy and his visit for the opening of Florida’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic plant. CFO Sink released the following statement:

“Florida has been known as the sunshine state because of our beaches, but today we are taking an important step forward in becoming known as the sunshine state because of our commitment to solar and alternative energy. I commend Florida Power & Light for opening the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic plant here in Southwest Florida, and welcome President Obama to our state to see firsthand how we are working to diversify and modernize Florida’s economy.

“I am also extremely excited that Floridians will benefit from a $200 million grant to modernize our energy grid, one of the largest smart grid grants in the country. As Floridians, we are ready to harness our creativity and entrepreneurial energy to make our state a national leader in the development of a 21st century economy.”

South Georgia has just as much sunshine as north Florida. And you can build solar equipment anywhere. For example in a county with I-75 running through it and I-10 nearby. Maybe if Atlanta won’t lead, Valdosta should.