Snipesville Solar Site in Jeff Davis County, Ga.
Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch have completed of a 200-MW solar portfolio including three utility-scale projects in southern Georgia. The total capacity is distributed across two counties in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the state and will serve more than 35,000 EMC households. As a clean energy source, the solar portfolio’s environmental offset is equivalent to more than 350,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
“EMCs maintain a balanced and diverse portfolio to meet the energy needs of Georgia’s consumers – and that includes innovative sources like solar,” said Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan. “They’ve harnessed Georgia’s natural resources to power our homes, drive economic development, and provide hundreds of jobs in construction and installation.”
Collectively, the three projects complete the 200 megawatt portfolio which was first announced by the partners in 2017. The three solar sites were developed, funded, and built by Silicon Ranch, which also owns, operates, and maintains the arrays throughout the lifecycle of each facility. Green Power EMC is purchasing all the energy and environmental attributes generated by the facilities on behalf of its Member EMCs for the next thirty years.
The first site, known as Hazlehurst III, came online in December 2019 and is a 40 megawatt facility located in Jeff Davis County. The second site, the 74 megawatt Terrell Solar Farm, in Terrell County was commissioned by Silicon Ranch in August 2020. In December 2020, the partners commissioned the third and final site in the portfolio, Snipesville I, an 86 megawatt facility also located in Jeff Davis County. The projects will contribute significant tax revenues for the two counties, which will benefit local economies, governments, and school systems for years to come.
“The cooperatives’ commitment to South Georgia means our community develops expertise in solar,” boasts representative Gerald Greene, of House District 151 which includes Terrell and eight other counties. “That means jobs, investments and long-term benefits for Terrell County, and our entire region.”
Thirty-two of Georgia’s EMCs share in the three facilities’ power production. By working together, Georgia’s cooperatives have been able to take advantage of economies of scale, resulting in lower-cost solar power. These savings are then passed on to their member-consumers.
“Silicon Ranch is honored by the confidence and trust that Green Power EMC and its Member EMCs continue to place in our company to execute on their behalf,” said Silicon Ranch Chief Commercial Officer Matt Beasley. “One of our guiding principles is that ‘we do what we say we will do,’ and we want to thank all of our project partners, including Green Power EMC, Georgia Transmission Corporation, and our friends in Jeff Davis County and Terrell County, for helping us to keep our promises and for enabling us to make these significant investments in communities across the state.”
Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch have produced a video to provide additional facility details and drone footage of each solar site, view it here.
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.