Solar a growing source for Georgia Power
The utility is now fifth in nation in its use of solar resources.
Georgia Power has moved up five spots, from 10th among 412 utilities in the nation to fifth, in the ranking of utilities using solar power resources.
The utility added more than 550 megawatts of solar capacity to its system in 2016.
One of the newest solar arrays in Floyd County was installed at Darlington School last fall.
“We were not able as a non-profit to take advantage of the tax credits that were available so we entered into a land lease with a solar developer (Inman Solar),” said Randy Smith, a sixth grade math and science teacher at Darlington.
Smith said Inman has in turn actually sold it to an energy producing company, Washington Gas Light. They own and operate the array and sell the electricity that is produced to Georgia Power and other utilities in the power grid.
Smith said the revenue from the lease offsets about one percent of Darlington’s annual power bills. “It’s more of an opportunity for us to participate in an alternative energy resource program so that our students can actually see real-life science work here in our area,” Smith said. He said his students are just in the process of finishing up a unit in alternative energy resources and he is able to use a website that keeps track of the kilowatt hours produced every day, every week, every month and on an annual basis.
The Darlington solar farm is a 900 kilowatt array, which means on the best sunny days, it can produce that much power. Smith said on a typical overcast day the array
can still produce well over 200 kilowatts.
Smith said the website is also able to show how much sulfur dioxide or carbon dioxide would have been produced using other power generating methods.
The Georgia Power system had a total of 855 megawatts of solar capacity at the end of 2016. The utility hopes to add another 1,600 megawatts of capacity
by the end of 2021.
Other large solar arrays in Floyd County are operating at the Pirelli tire plant at the Floyd County Industrial Park off U.S. 27 south of Rome and on Turners Bend Road across from Coosa High School.
Georgia Power also purchases solar energy from a total of three solar farms in Rockmart, Cedartown and Aragon.