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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.
On Tybee, the question is blowin’ in the wind
About 100 people packed Tybee Island’s City Hall Monday night to hear about a 50-kilowatt wind turbine offered to the beach town for free. “We have a unique opportunity to invest our tax dollars in our future with very minimal investment because this is a gift,” said Councilman Paul Wolff, who has negotiated thus far in private with an international corporation for the wind turbine, an Endurance E-3120 model valued at $272,000. To some, it’s a no-brainer to accept the . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine’s power? Equal to ’50s VW
Regarding your Sunday article about the gift of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine to the City of Tybee, to put the proposed gift of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine to the city of Tybee into terms anyone can understand, 50 kilowatts is about the amount of power (67 horsepower) of a 1950s Volkswagen. Who in their right mind would spend $134,000 for a Volkswagen that would only run 40 percent to 60 percent of the time (i.e. produce power) regardless of how . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine is Tybee’s for the taking
When Tybee Island council member Paul Wolff learned in August of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine that needed a home, he knew he wanted it for his beach community. An international corporation had warehoused the turbine after a Wisconsin community to which it had been offered got negative feedback. Wolff, a champion of environmental innovations on Tybee, wasted no time in approaching the corporation’s representative at the Georgia Environmental Conference on Jekyll Island. “I said, ‘What are you going to do . . . Complete story »
Solar bill gets cloudy reception
There may be a brighter future for solar power in Georgia one day. But the chances of it arriving sooner through a proposal in the state House are pretty dim, judging from lawmakers’ reactions at a hearing Wednesday. The bill (HB 657) would allow for more companies to provide solar power to residents and businesses in Georgia, which gets less than 2 percent of its electricity from renewable fuels. Lawmakers on the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee did not . . . Complete story »
Politics eclipses sun
When advocacy of generating electricity from solar or wind energy first emerged in the long ago, it was aimed at helping people to “get off the grid” by breaking dependence on corporate/government suppliers … and prices. It was part of a combined survivalist/back-to-the-land movement at a time (January 1970 if one dates it to the appearance of the first issue of Mother Earth News) when such thinking became a hedge against nuclear war returning mankind to starting civilization all over . . . Complete story »
Study pushes offshore wind for Georgia
Georgia has greater potential for wind energy than six of the other 13 Atlantic coast states, but a recent National Wildlife Federation report details how the Peach State is falling behind in developing that potential. “Georgia has a little over 60 gigawatts (of wind resource),” said Jennette Gayer, advocate for Environment Georgia, which helped launch the report. “That’s like 75 average-sized power plants.” Unlike 11 of the other coastal states, Georgia hasn’t joined the Atlantic States Offshore Wind Consortium, a . . . Complete story »
Wind industry a waste of money and poor job creator
Climate change, dwindling resources, ecological and geopolitical concerns surrounding conventional sources of electricity – all are prominent worries today, as they should be. Wind power companies and their lobbyists – and many in the environmentalist community – assure us that industrial wind can break our dependence on other fuels, reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and help build a “green” economy of 21st century jobs. A closer look, however, reveals that wind’s actual record has not lived up to those . . . Complete story »
Georgia has little role in wind power convention it’s hosting
ATLANTA – The governors of Kansas and Arkansas, a Missouri utility commissioner and a Texas legislator are among the speakers at the world’s largest convention for the industry of wind-generated electricity being held in Atlanta this week, but the host state has little presence. “I want to encourage all the potential investment out to my state, and spend as much money and employ as many people as you possibly can,” said Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe. “We will help you in any . . . Complete story »
PSC official wants push for renewable energy
Georgia should consider a mandate that would require utilities to get a larger percentage of their fuel from alternative sources such as solar, even if it costs consumers another nickel a month, a state utility regulator said Tuesday. Georgia Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald said such a standard would beef up the currently undervalued market for solar in Georgia and open the market for new investors. McDonald didn’t give a timetable or other specifics. “As we look at energy down . . . Complete story »
Renewable energy costs must be competitive, Georgia Power says
ATLANTA – Renewable energy must cost about the same as traditional power sources such as natural gas or coal-fired power plants before Georgia Power will buy green energy on a large scale, company executives said Monday. Officials from the Southern Co. subsidiary said at a Statehouse conference that it wants to increase its usage of solar power from just more than four megawatts now to more than 55 megawatts by 2015. That’s still a relatively small amount of electricity, or roughly . . . Complete story »
