Tag Archives: Renewable Energy

Missouri has defeated CWIP: so can Georgia

A veteran of the original No Nukes movement calls Plant Vogtle and CWIP like he sees it.

Harvey Wasserman wrote Friday for EcoWatch, Nuclear Power’s Green Mountain Grassroots Demise,

The accelerating revolution in renewables has allowed solar, wind and other green sources to outstrip atomic reactors in cost, time to build, ecological impact and safety. As billions pour into Solartopian sources, private investment in atomic energy has all but disappeared—except where there are massive taxpayer subsidies.

Even that’s not enough. In 2011, President Obama handed $8.33 billion in federal loan guarantees to the builders of two reactors at Georgia’s Vogtle. But Peach State ratepayers are already being soaked for billions more in pre-payments, and the cost of the project is soaring. A parallel financial disaster looms at the Robinson site in neighboring South Carolina. Though the industry assumes these four reactors will eventually be finished, economic realities may say otherwise.

Cost estimates for new nukes have been soaring even before construction begins. Even with federal money, the builders still demand that state ratepayers foot the bill as the process proceeds, meaning consumers are on the hook for multiple billions even if the reactors never open. Pitched battles over this Construction Work in Progress scam have already been won by consumers in Missouri and are being fought in Iowa and elsewhere. As the years of building drag on, costs will escalate while renewables continue to become cheaper. Sooner or later, construction is likely to stop, as it did at numerous projects in the 1970s and 1980s which were never finished.

We can end CWIP in Georgia. It will benefit Georgia Power and the EMCs as well as all the rest of us when we stop wasting tax and customer dollars on boondoggles like Plant Vogtle or biomass or private prisons and get on with clean, profitable, job-creating renewable energy in Georgia: wind off the coast and sun inland.

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GA HB 818 would reduce renewable energy tax credits

Snuck into a renewable energy bill is a proposed decrease to Georgia renewable energy tax credits. It already passed the House and needs to be fixed in the Senate.

In HB 818 Section 2.3:

(G) For calendar year 2014, $5 2.5 million.”
The Georgia House passed this bill unanimously, apparently paying attention only to the addition of geothermal and not noticing this item at the end. It is in the Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Tim Golden is a member. Less than a year ago he assisted in passing these very same renewable energy GEFA tax credits and the next day in Valdosta at the ribbon cutting for the Wiregrass Solar project he said:

…solar power at one time was a theory, and now it’s in practice.
He and other Georgia State Senators need to know somebody in the statehouse is trying to stop that solar practice.

Capitol Office

121-G State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: (404) 656-7580
Fax: (404) 651-6767 		    tim.golden@senate.ga.gov

District Information

110 Beacon Hill
Valdosta, GA 31602
Fax: (229) 241-7732
Why decrease? The current GEFA renewable energy tax credits are already almost entirely subscribed through 2014. Why not increase them?

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PS: Owed to Claudia Collier.

PPS: Current law: Continue reading →

Farm Bill Forum Friday in Tifton with Sen. Saxby Chambliss

Two farm bill forums Friday: one in Jesup at 9AM, and one in Tifton at 2PM, both hosted by Senator Saxby Chambliss. GA Ag. Commissioner Gary Black will be at the one in Tifton. Might be a good place to mention you want the farm bill to reauthorize USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants.

Press Release, 8 March 2012, Chambliss to Host 2012 Farm Bill Forum,

Events will be held March 16th in Jesup and Tifton

On Friday, March 16th, Sen. Chambliss will hold two forums to discuss the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill. The public is invited to attend.

Friday, March 16th, 2012
at 9 am

Altamaha Technical College
C. Paul Scott Polytechnical Center
1777 West Cherry Street
Jesup, GA 31545
Participants will include:
Zippy Duvall, Georgia Farm Bureau
Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
Robert Redding, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
John Maguire , National Cotton Council

Friday, March 16th
at 2 pm

UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center
15 RDC Road
Tifton, GA 31793
Participants will include:
Gary Black, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture
Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
Robert Redding, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
John Maguire , National Cotton Council
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Separate CWIP payments to Georgia Power —WACE call for action

We don’t have to wait for the Georgia legislature to ban Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) for Georgia Power’s new nukes at Plant Vogtle. WACE has put out a clever call for action about CWIP, Go Solar, Not Nuclear!

Here’s an excerpt:

  • Use two checks each time you pay your bill. One check covers the amount you are forced to pay for “Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery” (write “for solar construction” in the memo line). The other check covers the remaining amount of your actual electricity costs.
  • Include a note in the letter with your checks voicing your opposition to nuclear power and ask Georgia Power to invest your funds in solar energy instead. This note could read:
    • I oppose nuclear power because of its dangers to our health and our environment. (See the nuclear accidents at Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island)
    • I oppose the construction surcharge for nuclear power plants because they are too expensive and waste billions of our tax dollars. (Plant Vogtle was originally estimated to cost $660 million. Eventually, only 2 of its proposed 4 reactors were built, costing more than $8 billion, and resulting in huge rate hikes for Georgia residents.)
    • I ask that GA Power invest my money and any collected surcharges in solar instead.
The PDF of the call includes these addresses:
Tim Echols, Chairman
Georgia Public Service Commission
244 Washington Street SW
Atlanta, GA 30334
1-800-282-5813 		W. Paul Bowers, CEO
Georgia Power Company
241 Ralph McGill Boulevard NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
1-888-660-5890
And don’t forget Georgia Power’s parent company The Southern Company’s CEO, Thomas Fanning, said a year ago he’s “bullish” on solar. Let’s see some solar action from The Southern Company and Georgia Power!

Here are some more contacts.

You don’t even have to be a Georgia Power customer to write to these people. Most of them are elected or appointed officials who are supposed to represent you, the taxpayers.

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Electric outlet plugs —Paul Wolff @ Tybee Island 2012 02 17

Paul Wolff at his house on Tybee Island said air practically whistles through open electrical plugs, so stopping those up saves a lot on heat and air conditioning.

Here’s the video:


Electric outlet plugs —Paul Wolff @ Tybee Island 2012 02 17
renewable energy,
Paul Wolff, The Volta Collaborative (TVC),
Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Why and how you can help bring solar power to Georgia

Foot-dragging utilities have stalled SB 401, which would facilitate generating and selling of solar power in Georgia. Here’s why and how you can help fix that.

John Sibley wrote for SaportaReport Sunday, Solar power bill would give Georgians more choices Have you gotten used to thinking you have no choice on your power

Times are changing. More and more of us are discovering choices for managing our power costs. Beyond the time-honored practice of turning off the lights leaving the room, we can find light bulbs that pay for themselves in a year or so; and we can find appliances, water heaters, and air conditioners that pay for themselves in a few years. After that, the savings are like getting part of your power free.

Now, on-site solar power has become an economical option for many. Deals for rooftop solar panels can be done in Georgia today that will provide power for 25 years for as little as 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Many Georgians can save money from day one. Since rates in Georgia have gone up 49 percent in seven years, they can also protect themselves against increases.

More and more Georgians are choosing on-site solar, but

Continue reading →

Programmable electric meter —Paul Wolff 2012 02 17

Paul Wolff showed us his programmable electric meter at his house on Tybee Island.
It shows night, day, evening hours….

That’s exclusive of the solar. This is strictly what I’ve used off the grid. The solar, I keep a spreadsheet.

The still picture shows Paul and Gretchen comparing notes on solar generation and usage over time. He writes his on a pad of paper. She records hers on an iphone. Either way works.

Here’s the video:


Programmable electric meter —Paul Wolff 2012 02 17
renewable energy,
Paul Wolff, The Volta Collaborative (TVC),
Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Weatherstripping —Paul Wolff, Tybee Island, 2012 02 17

Paul Wolff explains weatherstripping on his door on Tybee Island. Inexpensive and very effective.

Here’s the video:


Weatherstripping —Paul Wolff, Tybee Island, 2012 02 17
renewable energy,
Paul Wolff, The Volta Collaborative (TVC),
Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Georgia Power peddling old disinformation about solar power

On the same day as SB 401 revived as SB 459 gets a hearing in a better committee, Georgia Power trots out the same old tired disinformation it’s been peddling for years. As if we didn’t already know that almost all solar installations in Georgia are installed by certified solar installers. Or that pretty much every inverter these days comes with built-in automatic cutoff if the grid goes down to which installers add air-gap cutoff knife switches plus breakers. And as if Georgia Power didn’t know it and EMCs could charge a percentage on electricity arbitraged across their networks, which gapower could use to finance any needed grid improvements, while retaining a hefty profit for doing not much of anything else. Meanwhile, those of us who chose to participate in solar electricity arbitrage would get lower rates for customers. We do know all that, but maybe your state senator doesn’t, so maybe you should call your senator today and tell them you want to be able to buy and sell solar power without having to get it from the utility monopoly.

Greg Roberts, Vice President of Pricing and Planning for Georgia Power in Atlanta, wrote for the Savannah Morning News today, The solar sleight of hand. I’ll only quote part of his concluding paragraph.

Georgia Power is involved in many efforts to expand the use solar energy
Usually dragged along behind reluctantly, Continue reading →

SB 401 revived in SB 459: lets you generate and sell solar power

SB 401 got tabled in the Natural Resources Committee. 46 other states already let people generate solar power and sell it to a third party.
Yet in only four states — Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Kentucky Mdash; are third party power purchase agreements disallowed, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
But Georgia Power convinced that committee that it would raise rates for everybody else. Which is pretty rich coming from the same gapower that is already charging customers Construction Work in Progress for its nuke boondoggle. So SB 401 sponsor Sen. Buddy Carter found another way.

Mary Landers wrote for the Savannah Morning News Friday, Solar bill jolted back to life:

To revive his bill, Carter tacked it onto to one already sent to the Regulated Industries Committee — SB 459, which would allow consumers to opt-out of smart meters like the ones Georgia Power is currently installing in Savannah. The committee held a hearing on the bill Thursday, ultimately tabling it, and saying they wanted more information about how power purchase agreements work in other states.

Carter was elated.

“It’s out there now and people are aware of it,” he said. It’s getting media attention. I feel good about it.”

Help him feel even better about it. Contact the committee chair and tell him we want solar cogeneration:
Senator William Ligon
404-656-0045
william.ligon@senate.ga.gov
Oh, regarding the meter opt-out in the main body of the bill, why let gapower charge people for that? You can mention to Sen. Ligon that people should be able to opt out for free.

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PS: Owed to Bob Ingram.