According to Georgia Solar, many Georgia businesses are providing the global marketplace with solar energy system components, bringing investment dollars and permanent, high-paying jobs into the State. “It’s time to capitalise on our natural strengths, and to leverage the economic impact solar energy could have on the State by bringing thousands of new, well paying jobs and billions of dollars of investment to our State’s economy,” said John Baumstark, Suniva Chair & CEO, and Go SOLAR Georgia Co-Chair.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s sun index level, Georgia is ranked tenth among states with the greatest energy potential from solar power but thrity-eighth in the number of solar energy systems connected to the utility grid. In fact, Georgia could generate more than 3,000 MW of electricity from solar photovoltaic roof top systems alone: enough to power close to 400,000 homes annually.
“By setting a goal of generating 20% of our electricity from solar energy by 2025, we are not only aligning ourselves with the Governor’s Energy Challenge, which calls for a 15% reduction in energy consumption by 2020, but we are providing State Government with an opportunity to ‘Walk the Talk’ by installing solar energy systems on public buildings,” said Walter Brown, Georgia Solar Chair and Campaign Co-Chair.
Go SOLAR Georgia will work to educate the public and policymakers about the important public policy changes that are needed to help Georgians put solar panels on their homes and buildings, expand existing businesses and to build large-scale solar farms. With strong leadership from state government encouraging more public-private sector partnership while leveraging resources in our own backyard like the University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics at Georgia Tech, Georgia can become part of a nation-wide and global movement in the development and deployment of solar energy systems.
As a first step towards reaching the 3,000 MW goal, Go SOLAR Georgia is calling for 100 MW to be installed by 2013. In addition, the Campaign will focus on:
• creating a state clean energy fund to facilitate job training and the installation of solar power systems in Georgia,
• removing artificial regulatory barriers that limit the size of commercial solar energy systems,
• enabling third-party ownership of solar energy systems benefiting rental facilities, school systems and churches, and
• ensuring all retail electric providers offer a fair buyback rate for electricity generated by solar energy.
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