A New Solar Energy Utility Set to Revolutionize Georgia's Electricity Industry

The future of solar in Georgia seems really bright after a new green utility petitioned Georgia Public Service to be licensed to offer electricity generated exclusively from solar to consumers. If the proposal receives the nod from state authorities, the Georgia Solar Utilities (GaSU) will be well positioned to challenge the stranglehold that Georgia Power has had on the power utility scene in Georgia.

News of the new startup came almost simultaneously with the announcement that Georgia Power was embarking on a project that would see the utility triple the solar production capacity by 2015. While the announcement was meat with a measure of skepticism, it is an indicator that there is a paradigm shift in achieving the largely unexplored potential of Gerogia in solar production.

The supply for GaSU’s power will come from a proposed 90 MW facility, which would be three times as large as the Simon Solar Program, the state’s largest approved solar farm. The projected cost of the new farm is $320 million and is said to open up opportunity for “hundreds of jobs” during its construction.

But all this assumes it can get approval from the state to operate as a utility. But a major barrier is the 1973 Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act, which effectively gives the state’s largest utility, Georgia Power, a monopoly on utility services. Previous attempts at changing utility legislation have met strong opposition

If the law was amended and GaSU was allowed to operate in Georgia, it could open up the state’s tremendous green energy potential. Georgia Power only just brought its first large solar farm online this July with a capacity of 1 MW, enough power for about 300 homes. Georgia Power has bought into three more large solar projects that promise to provide the company with 50 MW by 2015. While this would be a significant step up from the state’s current level of 18MW of solar production, it is still a tremendous under-utilization of a resource that could meet 31% of the state’s energy needs from rooftop solar alone. Currently, about 5% of Georgia’s total energy production comes from renewables.

However, GaSU could build its solar farm without action by the legislature or the PSC, and existing federal law would require Georgia Power to buy its electricity. But it would only pay GaSU an amount equal to what it could buy from its cheapest wholesale supplier.

The start-up wants instead to sell its electricity directly to retail customers who would be billed by Georgia Power or the other existing utilities, similar to the way natural gas is sold in Georgia. GaSU would pay the utilities for the use of their wires in the electric grid and any profits would be shared with customers.