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Wind Power News: Georgia
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Advocacy groups push for more wind power in Georgia
The future of wind in Georgia Power’s energy portfolio was debated Thursday during a Georgia Public Service Commission committee meeting. Starting next year, Georgia Power will get enough wind power from Oklahoma to power more than 50,000 homes as part of the utility’s first wind project. The price of wind energy has been dropping, so advocacy groups say Georgia Power should quickly invest in more wind energy. “People are paying about $10 a month on their power bills, every month, . . . Complete story »
Wind energy worries on Skidaway Island
Using and creating clean energy is a hot topic in the US today, with many of us trying to find the most effective option. Solar is one choice in our area, but now, Georgia Power is testing another. They’re trying to see if wind turbines are a viable option here in the Coastal Empire, so this summer they’re doing a test run on Skidaway Island. Some people worry they’ll cause a disturbance though; not only to people around them, but . . . Complete story »
Regents OK turbines at Skidaway
LAWRENCEVILLE – Georgia Power Co. won permission Tuesday from the Board of Regents’ Real Estate Committee to erect a weather tower and four turbines on 6 acres of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography as part of an experiment on coastal wind. Georgia Power is working with Georgia Southern University to study the availability of wind on the coast for generating electricity. It will also examine the impact of the turbines on birds and the feasibility of using what are considered small . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine test targets Skidaway
Within the next few months, Georgia Power plans to install small-scale wind turbines on Skidaway Island to research the viability of this renewable energy in the Peach State. The demonstration project calls for up to four turbines, three of them less than 100 feet high at the hub and a fourth about 140 feet at the hub to test higher altitude winds. There will also be a meteorological tower. The siting of the project at Georgia Power’s preferred coastal site . . . Complete story »
Interstate wind transmission project gets key federal approval
The proposed 700-mile power line to bring Oklahoma wind energy 700 miles to Tennessee has received a key federal approval, the company behind the transmission project reported Tuesday. Plains and Eastern Clean Line LLC has gained approval to sell transmission service to customers at negotiated rates and to negotiate agreements for 100 percent of the line’s capacity. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave approval for the project that hopes to deliver 3,500 megawatts of wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle . . . Complete story »
Georgia Power studying possible wind turbines on Georgia’s coast or off Tybee’s shore
Tybee Island earlier this year decided to pass on wind energy for the beach community, but the potential for wind turbines on the island or a few miles off its coast in the future still exists. About five months after Tybee elected to forgo a controversial wind turbine an unnamed corporation offered to provide mostly free of charge, officials with Georgia Power and other agencies from across the state met in Savannah to discuss wind energy’s future. “The question we’re . . . Complete story »
Tybee scraps plans for wind turbine
Tybee’s turbine is gone with the wind. A new analysis of installing and operating a donated wind turbine on Tybee indicates it wouldn’t be as beneficial as first described. Tybee council member Paul Wolff has removed the proposal from the Feb. 27 city council agenda. “After digging a little deeper into the economics, the wind speed was lower and the offset power rate was lower,” said Wolff, who had championed the idea. “Had one remained constant it would still have . . . Complete story »
Tybee weighs turbine’s effects on birds
Endangered piping plovers blend into the background of sandy beaches like Tybee’s, where these small shorebirds are known to visit. First decimated by the use of their feathers in women’s hats in the late 1800s, plovers have since suffered from having to compete with humans for beach space. Now only 60 or so breeding pairs remain in the smallest of their three known populations. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has identified global warming and wind turbines as emerging threats . . . Complete story »
Could Tybee’s proposed wind turbine kill endangered birds
TYBEE ISLAND, GA – There are lingering questions after Monday night’s town hall meeting discussing a proposed wind turbine on Tybee Island, including whether it could kill endangered birds. The proposed turbine would be placed at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. But Timothy Keyes with the Department of Natural Resources told Tybee’s City Council that the location could threaten endangered wildlife, specifically Piping Plover. “If you look at the sighting, if you look at the federally designated critical habitat of . . . Complete story »
Tybee residents discuss wind turbine
Tybee residents came out in dozens Monday night to a public meeting to discuss a proposed wind turbine. Tybee could get the turbine for free donated by the manufacturer, and would pay about $134,000 to install it, but is it something that residents want? The city’s idea is to use the wind turbine to power the treatment plant, saving the city an estimated $400,000 in electricity bills over 20 years. One problem: the Georgia Department of Natural Resources says scores . . . Complete story »
