When it comes to using solar power, the nation is making major strides while Georgia continues with baby steps.
A combination of falling costs, improved technology and a desire to use cleaner, sustainable fuel has thrust solar into the national energy spotlight. Nationwide, the industry grew 76 percent in 2012 compared with the year before, with enough solar on the grid now to power 1.2 million homes, according to the national Solar Energy Industries Association. In March, all new electricity added nationally was from solar power, according to federal energy data.
Georgia has made progress, too, with the state’s largest utility, Georgia Power, pledging to boost the amount of solar it will distribute to its customers tenfold over the next few years. But the state lags behind others and could continue to do so because of policies that give Georgia Power and the municipal and cooperative utilities exclusive operating rights in the areas that they serve. Many renewable energy advocates say those policies stand in the way of solar’s growth.
This means Georgia-based solar manufacturers and installers are doing much of their business out of state, and jobs, tax revenue and economic development based on solar’s growth are going elsewhere.
“We just need to emphasize that we’re harming our own economy, we’re sending this money out of state,” said Lee Peterson, an Atlanta-based tax attorney for CohnReznick, a national firm that specializes in renewable energy finance.
The amount of electricity Georgia Power gets from solar is at the forefront as state utility regulators review the company’s 20-year energy plan. The utility is in the middle of building the nation’s first two new nuclear reactors in 30 years, wants to close 15 coal- and oil-fired units, and continues to get more of its electricity from natural gas.
The plan doesn’t include adding more solar beyond what Georgia Power announced last year. Hearings on the issue will continue this week, and some members of the state Public Service Commission are pressing the utility to include more solar in its long-term electricity plans.
PSC member Tim Echols said various parties are proposing different levels of solar power for Georgia Power’s system and different ways to build or purchase it.
“The role of the commission is to evaluate these different proposals and determine which, if any, best serves the public interest,” Echols said. “Solar is here to stay, and the challenge for us at the commission is how to get utilities to utilize it without (causing electricity bills to rise).”
PSC Chairman Chuck Eaton said Georgia took a “very cautious and responsible approach” to solar power, and consumers have benefited from that. States that adopted solar policies early, he said, ended up paying a higher price through more expensive utility bills. Solar energy used to be so expensive it was cost-prohibitive, though prices have plummeted in the past two years.
“We’re very concerned about our electric costs; we keep an eye on that, and because of that we’ve been rewarded,” Eaton said.
The Southeast has two main barriers to developing renewable energy, according to the utility industry, its regulators and analysts. Electricity costs are relatively low, diffusing the need for alternatives to coal, nuclear and natural gas.The latter is at historically low prices because of abundant supplies.
And, traditionally, solar power has worked better in the desert Southwest, where there is more direct sunlight, and wind energy has thrived in the Midwest, where the wind blows more constantly and at higher speeds.
“In Georgia we don’t have the solar intensity, it tends to be cloudy here,” said Tom Fanning, chairman and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent of Georgia Power and three other Southeastern utilities. “Its time is not here, but we’re looking at it.”
Fanning said his utilities are studying a host of technologies that he thinks will help make solar cost-competitive with more traditional sources of fuel by the end of the decade. For now, most of Southern’s investment in solar is in other states as part of a partnership with Ted Turner.
Other states mandate that utilities get a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources. That isn’t the case in the Southeast.
“There’s all kinds of reasons. Some of them are physical (geographical) reasons, some are economical reasons, some are political reasons,” said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a group of power companies that includes Southern. “If you are in an area that is not particularly conducive to renewable power … there’s still not enough to justify the cost of investment.”
Barriers or not, Georgia Power’s own solar programs are a result of pent-up consumer demand in the state to have more sun power on the grid. The utility has agreed to add enough solar to power 35,490 homes by the end of 2015 by buying excess energy from solar-equipped residences or small businesses as well as solar farms.
Georgia Power received more than 1,000 applications from residents or small businesses wanting to install solar panels and then sell the power to the utility.
“Clearly the market indicates that there is demand” for the program, said Mark Bell, president of Atlanta-based Empower Energy Technology and chairman of the Georgia Solar Energy Association.
Bell said the solar industry needs to continue to push state policymakers for market-based solutions that will let sun power flourish in Georgia. That has been an uphill battle so far.
An attempt in the state Legislature to allow companies to install, own and maintain solar systems on homes and businesses was quickly squashed by Georgia Power and the state’s municipal and cooperative utilities. The bill would have let customers sign a long-term contract with a private solar developer to pay for the electricity generated by those solar panels.
Georgia Power, a regulated monopoly, and the state’s cooperative utilities argue that such private solar companies would be illegally operating as a utility.
“That’s been a fairly significant impediment to market growth in Georgia,” said Bell, whose company has installed solar projects in and around metro Atlanta but is doing the majority of its work in other states such as North Carolina.
Elsewhere, Atlanta-based companies are among those with solar projects outside Georgia. Inman Solar is installing solar panels at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. Meanwhile, Cox Communications and Manheim, both part of Cox Enterprises, recently completed solar projects in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, respectively.
A newly formed solar company petitioned the PSC for approval to sell sun power directly to homes and businesses. The company, Georgia Solar Utilities, has taken its request to the Legislature after the PSC said it did not have the authority to make such a decision.
“Georgia is unique because it has tremendous potential (for solar),” said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “Georgia is a great test bed, and it’s going to be up to the policymakers to see whether Georgia really wants to be a leader and really allow free market enterprise to run free, as opposed to the central monopolistic, top-down approach to things.”
About the Author
