Welcome to Monday, everyone. (Insert collective groan here.) We’ve got a few solar energy-related stories for you this morning, to help is you ease into the week…
It looks like a rumble is-a-brewing in Georgia… The state’s solar industry and Georgia Power can’t seem to get along, to put it lightly.
“We directly challenge for the first time the accuracy of the company’s [Georgia Power's] information about the viability of solar power as a renewable energy source in Georgia,” James Marlow and Lee Peterson said on behalf of the Georgia Solar Energy Association in first-time testimony at the state Public Service Commission.”
Related: Georgia Power Flirts with Solar Energy, Skeptics Unswayed.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped announce the creation of several “solar empowerment zones” across the city. Notably, New York has over 1.6 BILLION square feet of rooftops — some of which is prime real estate for rooftop solar installations. A central aim of the solar empowerment zone plan is to add solar power to the grid in those places where additional generating capacity will bring the most bang for the city’s buck:
“The creation of the Solar Empowerment Zones directs resources to areas in the city where solar installations can have the greatest impact,” said Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, “By focusing on neighborhoods that need additional capacity to meet projected demand, we can make our grid more resilient and forestall costly infrastructure improvements.”
New York City officials will also use an innovative solar energy map to help decide where, exactly, to put solar panels.
In Colorado solar power news, Governor Scott Ritter used the last day of his legislative career to sign five bills related to clean energy, via Denver Business Journal:
House Bill 1267, sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, which gives tax breaks to residential solar facilities that are leased but not owned by the homeowner.
House Bill 1328, sponsored by Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, which creates loans of up to $25,000 for homeowners to use for renewable energy-generating equipment.
House Bill 1333, sponsored by Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, which provides grants to colleges to provide clean-energy job-training programs.
Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, which creates a task force to study implementation of a smart energy grid in Colorado.
House Bill 1098, sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, which provides for more transparency in rural electric cooperative association governance.
Finally today, if all goes according to plan, Williamstown, Vermont may be home to a 2.1-megawatt solar panel installation, via Times Argus Online. The project, which will be dubbed the “Williamstown Solar Farm,” could be one of the first completed under Vermont’s feed-in tariff, available via the Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) program.
