Proof, I guess, that there are actually still a few honest to goodness conservatives out there, who actually care about things like decentralization, economic opportunity, and competition in the marketplace – as opposed to just reflexive, Fox-addled, “if the black guy is fer it, ahm agin’ it” types that steal most of the spotlight.
I’ve reported on the growing realization among tea party activists that renewable energy is not only technologically superior, and economically inevitable, but harmonious with actual conservative, as opposed to ditto head, values. This is not good news for the Koch brothers, Heartland Institute, and Americans for Prosperity.
Mary Landers in Savannahnow.com
Despite an abundance of sunshine, Georgia lags behind other states in installing solar power. That’s poised to change, and as it does, solar is making new friends out of old rivals.
“How many people in this room would believe that the Tea Parties would be forming a partnership or coalition with the Sierra Club to actually push for more solar in Georgia if I had told you a year ago?” asked Atlanta Tea Party Patriots co-founder Debbie Dooley during the Coastal Georgia Solar Summit on Jekyll Island earlier this month.
Not one hand went up in response, but it’s true.
The two groups are at the core of the Green Tea Coalition, formed with an initial purpose of supporting solar energy and furthering a recent victory that occurred in July when the Georgia Public Service Commission voted 3-2 for Georgia Power to include an additional 525 megawatts of solar in its 20-year plan. That’s on top of 260 megawatts already planned.
The increase is huge, notes Jennette Gayer, of Environment Georgia, which recently ranked states by solar production. Georgia’s current production of 25 megawatts came in 23th on a per capita basis, but that’s sunnier than it seems.
Solar is highly concentrated in just a dozen states that account for 85 percent of installed capacity: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and Vermont.
“They’re basically producing all the solar,” Geyer said. “The rest are tied for last.”
Vermont and New Jersey kind of jump out as good examples that policy, not geography, is a key component for making a solar industry thrive.
Solar is advancing in the Peach State in part because of what PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald has called a “perfect storm” of conditions:
The technology has improved, panel prices are down 40 percent in the last two years, interest rates are favorable and Georgia is in the top five states for what an Arizona State University study calls “optimal deployment of solar,” McDonald said.
McDonald, who said it was his idea to work the additional solar into Georgia Power’s plan, noted that the timing was critical to avoid upward pressure on rates. Solar frontrunners like New Jersey paid more for lesser technology. McDonald disagrees that the PSC’s decision was a “mandate.” The process is more of a negotiation, he said.
Dooley is calling it a victory. She worked alongside the Sierra Club on this issue and before that on the defeat of a transit tax referendum in Atlanta. After the PSC decision they formalized the partnership as the “Green Tea Coalition.”
“Solar is something that is actually central to a lot of things of the Tea Party activists,” Dooley said at the Coastal Solar Summit. “We believe in the decentralization of government so it would be natural that once we were educated we would come in and get involved in solar as a thing that is for free markets.
“Free markets have been a key core value of the Tea party since we were founded.
I keep trying to comment on this post, but it errors out. Suggestions?
The Sun Tea coalition should also be strongly behind nuclear energy, since it is carbon-free and requires only minuscule amounts of material to be mined, shipped and disposed of. Unlike natural gas which can be cut off in days or hours if a pipeline is shut down, a nuclear plant’s energy supply is secure until the next scheduled refueling.
The peaky nature of PV generation requires additional measures to achieve deep penetration on the grid. The planners would be well-advised to look at dynamic EV chargers, ice-storage air conditioners, and other schemes to absorb and make use of un-dispatchable electricity supplies.