by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

August 14, 2024

Several solar industry insiders made a pitch to a Georgia House committee on Wednesday for the economic and environmental benefits of establishing a community solar program that allows Georgia Power customers to purchase electricity from small-scale solar developers.

Rep. Beth Camp, a Concord Republican, said the House Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications Ad Hoc Committee on Community Solar meeting was a chance to hear from solar industry experts about the value of community solar, information that lawmakers can use when drafting future legislation. 

Republican-backed community solar legislation failed to pass in the state Senate and House earlier this year. The proposals would have allowed small- and mid-scale developers to participate in a community solar program under the state Public Service Commission and let them build small solar arrays on Georgia Power’s turf. Subscribers would receive a credit on their electricity bill for a portion of the generation output.

Georgia Power has resisted expansion of solar power use in the state in recent years.

Steve Butler, spokesman for the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association, credited the Georgia PSC for its continued support of solar development since more than a decade ago, when the Commission approved a 50-megawatt solar project. Recently, state regulators approved Georgia Power’s plans to build another 1,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity. 

Butler said the solar industry is seeking to expand the energy market in the most cost efficient way to deliver more power to the grid.

“Georgia can greatly benefit from adding community solar during an energy crisis or a time of need, and even if that crisis has ended, with the largest airport in the world and the fourth largest port, it’s doubtful that we’re going to need less energy anytime soon,” Butler said during the committee meeting held at Kennesaw State University.

Georgia ranks among the top 10 states for utility-scale projects, but in the bottom 10 for smaller distributed generation projects. 

The state is a leader in solar manufacturing with companies making multi-billion-dollar investments in solar farms and facilities, including 2,500 jobs that are expected to be created by Qcells’ plans to build a new 3.3-gigawatt solar panel plant near Cartersville and expand its Dalton plant by 2.1 gigawatts. 

Clean energy groups have also criticized the PSC, which regulates Georgia Power, for not forcing the state’s largest utility company to make a greater commitment, which includes not expanding a popular residential net metering program that has been capped at 5,000 customers.

On Wednesday, legislative committee members asked solar industry officials how confident they are that there is a strong enough customer-based market to support community solar in Georgia. They also wondered what kind of bill credit incentives should be provided by the state and how cost shifting might be passed along to ratepayers who are not participating in a community solar program.

Summit Ridge Energy’s government affairs director James Fenley said that the company has waiting lists of potential customers in most states where it operates and that it typically can save customers about 10% on their utility bills.

Fenley said the company’s ability to turn a solar project into a financially attractive investment depends on securing long-term leases for land and contracting with major solar panel manufacturers.

“This is all third-party owned, third-party capital, not ratepayer dollars coming in. And because of that, we’re able to build at a certain amount,” he said. “As long as the PSC sets a bill credit that’s attractive enough for us to invest here, we can find a way to offer savings.”

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