Solar Love
  • Rooftop Solar
    • Energy Storage
  • Solar Panels
  • Policy
  • Research
    • Science
    • Market Research
    • Solar Perceptions & Polls

Solar Love

  • Rooftop Solar
    • Energy Storage
  • Solar Panels
  • Policy
  • Research
    • Science
    • Market Research
    • Solar Perceptions & Polls
ActivismPVSolar PolicySolar Projects

Georgia Solar Gets Tea Party Boost (525 MW Approved!)

by Nicholas Brown July 20, 2013
written by Nicholas Brown July 20, 2013
Georgia Solar Gets Tea Party Boost (525 MW Approved!)

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a new program under which the local energy generator and distributor Georgia Power would be required to construct 525 MW of solar power plants by 2016.

This was proposed by Lauren McDonald and was passed with a vote of 3-2. Incidentally, a lot of support came from the local Tea Party.

georgia solar panels

Georgia solar panels.
Photo Credit: faul / CC BY

In early June, Climate Progress provided some background on this Tea Party push:

The fight to bring cheaper, clean energy to Georgia is uniting some unlikely allies. Renewable energy advocates and leaders of the Atlanta Tea Party are taking on utility giant Southern Co., and its subsidiary Georgia Power, over resisting the call to expand its development of solar energy.

As Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party explained in an interview with Climate Progress, the group’s interest in the debate is quite simple: “The free market has been one of the founding principles of the Tea Party since it began and a monopoly is not a free market.”

In Georgia — as in many states — utilities are granted a monopoly over the ability to sell power, which means that customers have no choice in where they get their electricity. A major provision of the monopoly is that Georgia Power act in the best interest of ratepayers, regulated by the Public Service Commission.

Dooley said the Tea Party believes consumers should be able to exercise choice when it comes to their energy source and the activists she works with don’t want to be dependent on one or two energy sources. And Dooley’s effort is not aimed at reducing carbon emissions — in fact, she doesn’t believe in global warming — but based on their view that solar is a commonsense alternative for Georgia ratepayers that could function without subsidies.

For more background, read the full Climate Progress article.

Forbes, following the 525 GW of solar approval, adds:

The ruling is the latest event in what has been a loud, two-year fight. But what makes Georgia’s solar fight different is that solar advocates aren’t just selling solar as a way to reduce emissions or reduce fossil fuels. Solar has been positioned as a property rights issue pitting private citizens against utilities, regulators and fixed rates of return.

“Are New York bondholders more important than Georgia ratepayers?” Jason Rooks, a lobbyist for the Georgia Solar Energy Association, asks rhetorically. “This is about free market. This is about property rights. It is about technology and innovation.”

If the strategy continues to work, it could become a template for the advocates in rest of the country. Call it the “the enemy of my enemy is my utility” battle plan.

Following that, Forbes also has more context that is quite interesting and worth a read.

Solar Love founder and CleanTechnica director Zachary Shahan was also recently contacted (in mid-June) by an insider working with conservative politicians in Georgia who were pushing for this Georgia solar power boost. It was conveyed to him that it was hoped this effort would bring more Tea Party and Republican leaders over to the solar energy camp. Clearly, their voters support solar energy development, more than any other energy source, as poll after poll shows.

Is the Tea Party about to adopt more solar power production as one of its goals? Is the solar rooftop revolution about to get a big boost that unites conservative activists and liberal activists? Do you think it is time for governments to reduce individuals’ income tax rates in exchange for increases of gas and coal taxes? A lot of interesting questions come out of this.

Sound off in the comment section.

GeorgiaGeorgia solarGeorgia solar Tea PartyGeorgia Tea PartyGeorgia Tea Party solarsolar Tea PartyTea Party solar
8 comments
0
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Nicholas Brown

Nicholas Brown writes on CleanTechnica, Gas2, Kleef&Co, and Green Building Elements. He has a keen interest in electricity generation, , energy efficiency, HVAC-R, energy storage, and science overall. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

previous post
Which Solar Panels Are Most Efficient?
next post
Solar Homes For The Elderly Come To Florida

You may also like

Mitsui To Partner With Indian Company For Distributed...

June 10, 2019

India’s NTPC Offers Solar Project Management Services To...

June 9, 2019

Equinor & Scatec Solar Complete 162 Megawatt Brazilian...

November 29, 2018

Gamesa Awarded 400 Megawatt Solar Project In Egypt

November 29, 2018

Neighborhood Power Installing 10 Megawatt Solar Bifacial+Tracker Project...

November 20, 2018

EDF Renewables Commissions 110 Megawatts Of Solar In...

October 30, 2018

Maui Switches On Another 2.87 Megawatts Of Solar...

October 8, 2018

Capital Dynamics Acquires 121 Megawatt Springbok 3 Solar...

September 27, 2018

EnSync Energy Sells CAL FIRE Solar PPA Project...

August 20, 2018

India Shows More & More Appetite For Solar...

June 4, 2018

Follow Me

Facebook

Recent Posts

  • Meet PVCase: A 3D Solar Design Software That Every PV Designer Should Consider

    June 12, 2019
  • Mitsui To Partner With Indian Company For Distributed Solar Projects

    June 10, 2019
  • India’s NTPC Offers Solar Project Management Services To ISA Members

    June 9, 2019
  • Equinor & Scatec Solar Complete 162 Megawatt Brazilian Solar Plant

    November 29, 2018
  • Gamesa Awarded 400 Megawatt Solar Project In Egypt

    November 29, 2018
  • Facebook

@2019 - All Right Reserved solarlove.org


Back To Top