Category: Green Collar Jobs
Photo by Contributed Photo/Times Free Press.
SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — Even under Thursday morning’s overcast skies, the new 1,400-panel solar array perched on the roof of a Mohawk Industries building was generating power. The array can produce up to 628,000 kilowatt-hours a year, roughly enough to power around 55 homes annually. The project was a coming-together of flooring manufacturer Mohawk, clean energy firm Constellation, solar infrastructure firm United Renewable Energy LLC and utility provider Georgia Power. Officials from all four were on hand Thursday morning to celebrate the new array’s unveiling.
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Publication of Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce | June 2012
Dalton Utilities, in partnership with Georgia Power, has created a solar plant located on Dalton Utilities’ property. All of the renewable energy credits will become the property of Dalton Utilities. The initial phase of the plant, located on Looper Bridge Road in Dalton, went online in 2011. Construction on the second phase was completed in late March. The first two phases consist of more than 3,100 fixed-tilt solar panels and provide a combined capacity of approximately 700 kW, enough energy to power 95 homes.
by Mariann Martin DALTON, Ga. — Gray skies and the occasional rain shower may have put a damper on production Friday, but the dreary weather didn’t stop solar energy proponents from predicting a sunny future for Dalton. “There is no other place in Georgia where you can take a 10-mile tour and see this kind of installation of solar energy,” Bill Silva, the president of United Renewable Energy, told about 50 people gathered in southern Whitfield County.
United Renewable Energy, which has installed many of Dalton’s solar energy sites, hosted a tour for Dalton leaders, business owners from across the state and officials involved in promoting renewable energy in Georgia.
The tour included a rooftop solar array at USFloors, a newly installed array on top of a landfill at Textile Rubber and Chemical Co., Dalton Utilities’ solar system and a solar tracking panel at IVC. (more…)
For the PV industry, Georgia is a tough nut to crack. Click to read full article
Partly Sunny In Georgia
Jerry Grillo. Published in Georgia Trend Magazine July 2011
The state’s solar industry is growing steadily, but slowly, as the national industry explodes.
The sun preceded humans by four billion years, give or take an eon, and in another billion years it will consume us, if we don’t kill ourselves first or we somehow avoid being dispatched by plague, meteors, aliens or some other misfortune.
Another billion years. By then, if not a little sooner, Georgia surely will have figured out how to better leverage the golden opportunity that rises in the East every day. Or so it is hoped by this state’s growing legion of solar energy advocates.
“It could take many, many years, but we will get there,” says Lee Peterson, senior manager for Reznick Group’s national tax practice in its Atlanta office, where he has served as an advisor in renewable energy projects across the U.S. valued at more than $2.4 billion – but only a tiny portion in Georgia. (more…)
Shana Haygood is an attorney and as COO of United Renewable Energy she has a complicated job: reviewing documents, sorting through the different state and federal renewable energy incentives, parsing the nuances. But what she likes best about work needs no legalese to explain. “The greatest opportunity in my position is employing people. Our company has created 25 new jobs in the past year and I am proud to have been a part of that. We are in a business with a conscience that challenges us every day.”
Shana was recruited to United Renewable Energy straight from law school and uses her legal training daily. “Contract review and document development are some of the most important skills that I bring to my position. The ability to manage multiple projects and give attention to the smallest detail are important when working with solar projects.” (more…)
Last month IVC US added a solar energy system to its new U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility. The system features a total of 476 solar panels. “IVC US believes in being good corporate stewards of our community and environment, and we understand the importance of minimizing our ecological footprint,” said Xavier Steyaert, CEO of IVC US. “Utilizing solar energy is one of several green initiatives we have integrated into our new facility.
Motorists on the Dalton Bypass can easily spot the ground-mounted solar tracker that is designed to follow the sun as it moves across the horizon. Throughout the day, the tracker continually orients itself with the sun to maximize its energy intake. Additionally, a large solar panel array is located on IVC’s roof. The panels work by collecting radiation from the sun and converting it into usable energy for commercial use with a grid tied inverter. (more…)
Rome, Georgia – Marglen Industries has recently commissioned a 95.2 kilowatt solar energy photovoltaic (PV) energy system on their rooftop in Rome, Ga. The system was installed by Alpharetta, Georgia based United Renewable Energy, LLC, and is the largest in the Southeast to use Solyndra’s unique cylindrical thin-film solar energy system.
The system was installed on the rooftop of Marglen Industries plastic bottle recycling plant in Rome, Georgia. The plant produces a post consumer recycled PET resin that is used in the manufacturing of sustainable food-grade packaging. The plant also produces a polyester fiber that is used in the manufacturing of sustainable flooring and other textile products. As part of it’s overall sustainable mission, Marglen has emerged as a renewable energy visionary with their latest solar installation, but has been a leader in sustainability for decades.
We at Marglen Industries are committed to bringing our values and principles of sustainability to the forefront of our business. This solar array stands as our responsibility for leadership in the industry, and our goal to bring value to our community and customers.” said Marglen’s CEO John Burnes.
Always looking for new opportunities to connect students to sustainable jobs, Lanier Technical College has set its sights on the solar industry.
Demand for solar energy has grown about 30 percent per year during the last 15 years, according to Solarbuzz, which tracks the industry worldwide as part of the marketing research firm, NPD Group. Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations increased by 7.3 gigawatts in 2009; up from 6,080 megawatts in 2008. (A megawatt is 1,000,000 watts; a gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts.)
The firm projects strong industry growth in the Asian Pacific, European and U.S. markets for the next five years. More efficient and less-costly technology has made solar options more affordable at the same time the world has increased its demand for renewable energy sources. (more…)
The largest commercial solar array in the state was commissioned last week in Dalton, GA. USFloors, a nationwide leader in sustainable flooring, installed an 144.48 kW solar array on their facilities.