Tag Archives: GA PSC

F is for solar in Georgia, #45 in 2013 state solar power rankings

F for all three main Southern Company states: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Florida manages a B for rank #23, presumably because SO only covers part of the panhandle. Coincidence? While SO’s tiger team studies someday maybe doing something about distributed solar, the Georgia Public Service Commission could double solar requirements on Georgia Power this week.

You can clearly see those three SO states on this map by GigaOm:

Solar Power Rocks.com asked 19 June 2013 in 2013 State Solar Power Rankings,

“How do we recognize and reward legislatures for admirable solar energy policy while holding them accountable to do better?” Continue reading →

Koch astroturf vs. solar jobs for Georgians

More solar for Georgia must be a good thing if AFP is organizing astroturf against it. GA PSC decides Thursday. Like another speaker at GA PSC last month, I don’t think even Bubba McDonald’s proposal to double solar requirements on Georgia Power goes nearly far enough, but at least it’s a start, which is more than Georgia Power will do unless nudged by GA PSC.

Ray Henry wrote for AP yesterday, Critics’ numbers misleading in Georgia solar fight: Georgia panel will vote soon on power plan,

A political group founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch wants Georgia’s utility regulators to reject a plan requiring Southern Co. to buy more solar energy, but an Associated Press review finds it has used misleading figures to build its case.

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity, founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, wants Georgia’s utility regulators to reject a solar energy plan in Georgia. But an Associated Press review ahead of a vote on the issue finds that it has used misleading figures to build its case.

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity has said in mass e-mails that Continue reading →

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle and move to wind and solar power –Courtney Hanson @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Re-evaluate Plant Vogtle, especially its water use, and move to efficiency, wind, and solar power instead, said Courtney Hanson of Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions (GA WAND) at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She reminded GA PSC Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are late and over budget, and then:

I want to add my voice to the chorus of folks here who are concerned about water issues. We know that Vogtle 3 and 4 will require an additional withdrawal of as much as 74 million gallons a day from the Savannah River and most of that water will not be returned. We know that the central Savannah River area where Vogtle is located is already very prone to droughts and the plant has been close to shutting down several times due to drought conditions. Georgia is also already struggling to supply enough water for our homes, businesses, industries, and farms.

In addition, the Savannah River is Continue reading →

It is not enough to add a little solar and wind on top of fossil and fission fuels –a German @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A German national residing in Georgia asked for a serious effort on energy efficiency and conservation while switching to real renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels and nuclear, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said increasing fires and floods were part of climate change, and we need to do something about it.

I always hear this phrase “growing energy demand” as if it’s something, some matter of fact. A growing economy means growing energy demand, and that means consequently growing waste, growing pollution, growing inequity, and so on. Any thinking person should notice that we need to find a way out. For anyone concerned about our future, business as usual is no longer acceptable. We need drastic changes in our energy supply. We need to use less.

Only a month earlier, Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia Power’s parent company Southern Company reemphasized yet again that

To us, growing the economy is how we’re going to make profit.

Yet GA PSC could do something about that antique attitude, as this speaker pointed out: Continue reading →

More solar, less nuke cost overruns –Glenn Carroll @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South asked GA PSC to raise the 2 MW solar cap and to get Georgia Power to build solar in Georgia rather than in distant states, plus efficiency and conservation, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

She said they’d gotten a lot of national attention on Plant Vogtle, which was having a legendary bad year, in procurement, costs, etc. She praised Sierra Club, Georgia Watch, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for intervening in Georgia Power’s IRP.

The world has changed really really fast and Georgia Power is being isolated. It is protected financially of course because of the small business and residential customers that are covering all of the risks that they are taking. We want solar power here, not Arizona and New Mexico.

She recommended conservation and efficiency programs at Port Angeles, presumably the one in Washington State.

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

Increased investment in demand-side reduction –a homebuilder @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Paul[?] Matthews said he’s been green since before it was cool, first in an earlier Georgia Power program (EarthCraft), and now in EarthCents. He thinks the program is good, with both environmental and economic benefits, but he asked for it to be extended to become a model for the south, at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

He spoke about his company’s investment in sustainable efficiency and conservation, and asked GA PSC and Georgia Power to also do more.

A much more efficient way and cost-effective of reducing power is by reducing energy used. We’re not only looking at tripling the savings over the next ten years, but we’re also looking at job growth….

…a sustainable and long-term growth approach.

Let’s make the rebates and also the tax credits so they’re a model for Georgia and also for the south.

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

EarthCents has taken a lot of power bill mystery away –a contractor @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

A contractor who does homeowner education as part of Georgia Power’s Earth Cents program praised that program at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

He said homeowners tend to complain about power bills:

And this Earth Cents program has, in my experience, taken a lot of that mystery away. The homeowners that I touch and I deal with come away with an understanding that leaves them less concerned about the rate hikes that I’m sure keep you guys up at night when it comes to a vote and more concerned about where the money is actually going.

I’m guessing he means homeowners are more concerned about what Georgia Power is using to generate the power.

Earth Cents, according to Southern Company:

Introduced in 2008, EarthCents energy efficiency programs help our customers save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gases. EarthCents comprises a set of standing and new programs—and educational efforts—to reduce residential and commercial electricity consumption.

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

Georgia Power still too slow on solar in 20 year plan: PSC decides soon

Georgia Power tries to continue whistling in the fossil and nuclear fuel dark while distributed solar power changes the world around it. The Georgia Public Service Commission can decide differently, and will decide next week, 11 July 2013.

Joshua Stewart wrote 2 July 2013, Decision Looms On Georgia Power Plan,

The state Public Service Commission votes next week on Georgia Power’s 20-year plan, the road map for providing electricity to 2.4 million customers. That includes the mix of fuels the company will use and the efforts the company undertakes to get customers to use less energy. This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia Power also wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating units at six power plants.

This happens every few years. But this time, Georgia Power also wants to retire 16 coal- and oil-fired power-generating units at six power plants.

PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said at a hearing in April that this version of Georgia Power’s plan “is filled with the most-significant issues” of any Integrated Resources Plan in the last decade.

And Georgia Power avoids actually facing many of those issues:

Continue reading →

Sun dancing as a Georgia Trend

GSEA, GaSU, Georgia Power, and even me are quoted in a Georgia Trend feature about solar power in Georgia. As Mahatma Gandhi is alleged to have said when asked his opinion of western civilization: “that would be a good idea!”

Jerry Grillo wrote for Georgia Trend July 2013, Sun Dancing: As Georgia’s solar capacity shoots skyward, a new state utility is proposed,

It’s the sun, the sol of our solar system, to which everything that lives and moves, including the wind, owes its existence. Without the sun, there is no us, no Earth. You can’t miss it. It’s the biggest thing in the sky, the biggest thing for at least 24 trillion miles, and at 4.5 billion years old it is middle-aged and remains the most abundant source of power between here and Alpha Centauri, zapping our planet every minute with more energy than humanity can consume in a year.

The best thing is, the sun is free. Still, for most of those eons, capturing the sun’s energy for human consumption has been like picking crops with a catcher’s mitt.

But over the past few years, photovoltaic technology (“photo” for light, “voltaic” meaning electricity) has gotten way more efficient, and the previously prohibitive price has fallen dramatically, setting the stage for what’s happening now in Georgia: Solar deployment and interest are increasing dramatically.

“This is a very dynamic time for solar energy, and it demonstrates a pent-up demand and interest in solar energy for Georgia,” says Mark Bell, chair of the Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) and president of Atlanta-based Empower Energy Tech-nology. “There’s a great potential here for real, sustainable economic development.”

Grillo was pretty thorough in getting a range of points of view (with the notable exception of Georgia Sierra Club), and the whole article is well worth reading.

Among the things I told Grillo back at the beginning of May, I’m especially glad he included this:

Continue reading →

Ready, willing, and able for wind –Jill Stuckey for Georgia Southern @ GA PSC 2013-06-18

Jill Stuckey spoke for wind power for economic development on behalf of the College of Engineering and Information Technologies at Georgia Southern University. She said with its experience in solar and wind Georgia Southern is willing, able, and ready to help at the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.

Here’s the video:


Ready, willing, and able for wind –Jill Stuckey for Georgia Southern
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.

-jsq