Eastanollee Solar Panels Up and Running for Ga. Power
Solar panels installed on land owned by the Stephens County Development Authority are up and running.
The solar panels are located in the area of Turner and Wolf Pit roads. Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin said that the panels were turned on and began producing 700 kilowatts of electricity to send to the Georgia Power grid on Tuesday morning. Martin said it is part of an initiative by Georgia Power to increase solar power usage. “Georgia Power Company wanted to increase the percentage in their portfolio of all sources of electricity, they wanted more solar,” said Martin. “So they created this advanced solar initiative and we became part of that.”
(more…)
Nestle Purina’s Atlanta Facility Unveils Company’s Largest Solar Array
Partnering with United Renewable Energy, pet food manufacturer demonstrates commitment to renewable energy
FAIRBURN, Ga., May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Nestle Purina PetCare today unveiled the Company’s largest solar array at its Atlanta pet food manufacturing facility. The solar array, designed and installed by United Renewable Energy (URE), represents the latest step in Nestle Purina’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
Fairburn Mayor Mario Avery joined a Nestle Purina delegation, as well as representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson and URE on the factory’s rooftop during a dedication ceremony for the nearly 1,900 glistening solar panels.
“Congratulations to Nestle Purina on this tremendous achievement,” Mayor Avery said. “I’m excited to be here on behalf of the people of Fairburn to mark another major milestone for this great company. Nestle Purina represents what we’re trying to promote in this community, and we’re glad you’re here.”
Nestle Purina Atlanta’s solar array will produce more than 585,000 kilowatt hours of clean sustainable energy each year, with this energy used to power equipment in various areas of the plant, including Processing, Packaging and the Warehouse. The amount of electricity produced annually by the solar array could power nearly 52 average-sized homes — or approximately 5,000 light bulbs — for one year. The carbon offset for a system this size equates to a C02 emissions reduction of approximately 16 million pounds. (more…)
South Atlantic Services, Inc. Commissions 500 kW Solar Installation
WILMINGTON, NC (September 26, 2012)- For over 40 years, South Atlantic Services, Inc. (SAS) has been a leader in the contract manufacturing of automotive fluids and agricultural products. The company continues to be an industry leader and recently completed the construction of a 500 kW photovoltaic solar energy system at their manufacturing facility in Wilmington, NC. The rooftop system is comprised of 2,033 solar panels which will utilize 35,000 square feet of otherwise unused roof space. The system is mounted to the roof using a non-penetrating mounting solution that clamps directly to the standing-seam metal roof. The system will produce enough energy for 46 average American homes and offset the CO2 emissions equivalent to 78 passenger vehicles. The project was engineered, procured, and constructed using a local workforce by commercial solar contractor United Renewable Energy, LLC. (more…)
Innovation and Success
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.
Georgia Power tees up next phase of solar plant
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…)
URE customers lauded by PSC Commissioner
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.
United Renewable Energy hosts solar energy tour for Dalton leaders
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…)
Long way to go
For the PV industry, Georgia is a tough nut to crack.
URE industrial customers featured in recent Georgia Trend 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…)
Our very own Shana Haygood is featured in Solar Energy Industries Association spot: Solar Works for America.
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…)