Category: Commercial Solar
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.
Dave Williams
Staff Writer – Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Power Co. will begin construction soon on a project that will double the generating capacity of the utility’s solar plant in Dalton, Ga., the company announced Thursday. The first phase of the plant went on line last March and is operating with a capacity of 350 kilowatts. Construction of the second phase, due to be completed in about two months, will bring the plant up to 700 kilowatts, on its way to a full capacity of 1 megawatt of electricity. One megawatt of solar photovoltaic panels produces enough energy to power about 135 homes.
The plant is being constructed by United Renewable Energy LLC of Alpharetta, Ga., under a 25-year wholesale power purchasing agreement Dalton Utilities signed with Georgia Power in January of last year.
Dalton Utilities serves 77,000 customers in five Northwest Georgia counties.
Georgia Power is a unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co . (NYSE: SO).
(more…)
PSC member touts alternative fuels
Charles Oliver
charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com
Tim Echols, a member of Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC), lauded several Dalton companies Monday for their push to use more solar power.
The PSC regulates state utilities, and Echols told the Kiwanis Club of Dalton that the state could face an electricity shortage over the next few years because utilities will be closing down some coal-fired plants because they will be too expensive to run under new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules.
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…)
March 31, 2011, Dalton, Georgia –
Dalton, Georgia – IVC US has commissioned a solar energy system at its new U.S. Headquarters in Dalton, Georgia. The rooftop solar array is complimented by a 15′ X 15′ solar tracker on the Dalton Bypass that follows the sun as it moves across the horizon.
The 101.66kW system collects radiation from the sun with Schüco panels, and converts the power for commercial energy use with a grid interactive inverter. The project was engineered, procured, and constructed by United Renewable Energy LLC, a commercial solar installer based out of Alpharetta, Georgia.
Last year IVC constructed its new US headquarters in Dalton with state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution facilities. The 520,000 square foot building more than doubles the size of the previous location, and will further propel IVC US to the forefront of the domestic sheet vinyl industry. The $75 million capital investment has created more than 150 long-term jobs for Dalton, a community that has been plagued by unemployment caused by the economic recession. “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.” (more…)
United Renewable Energy Developer and EPC for Georgia Power and Dalton Utilities Deal.
ATLANTA – Georgia Power recently acquired a series of solar projects of up to 1 megawatt (MW) in Murray County, Ga., co-developed by United Renewable Energy LLC and Mack Creek Energy LLC. Georgia Power will sell the output from the facility to Dalton Utilities. The plant will be constructed on Looper Bridge Road in Dalton by United Renewable Energy and will be owned and operated by Georgia Power. Under the terms of the deal, Georgia Power will lease property for the solar facility from Dalton Utilities, which will purchase 100 percent of the plant’s capacity and energy through a 25-year power purchase agreement. (more…)