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Begin forwarded message:From: Bruce Nilles <bruce.nilles@sierraclub.org>
Date: July 1, 2015 at 12:06:34 PM EDT
To: "#Coal" <coal-list@sierraclub.org>
Subject: Very interesting. The Mighty Southern to offer solar - going head to head w/third party installers.
SOLAR:
Georgia Power rolls out state's first rooftop program -- 'we're putting our brand behind it'
Kristi E. Swartz, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, July 1, 2015Southern Co.'s Georgia Power rolled out details of its rooftop solar installation program as the Peach State's new law allowing for solar competition takes effect today.
The law makes rooftop solar systems more accessible for residents and businesses by permitting long-term financing arrangements to alleviate pricey upfront panel costs.
For Georgia, the law means letting competition into a state dominated by a regulated utility. As expected, Georgia Power is getting into the business in its own way, through an unregulated subsidiary.
Initially, this means the utility will sell and install rooftop solar panels, said Norrie McKenzie, Georgia Power's vice president of renewable development. It will not finance or lease them right now, he said.
That may change as time goes on, he said. At this point, Georgia Power's unregulated Energy Services group will work with subcontractors to sell and install the panels.
The utility also will refer customers to a "financing partner" to get a so-called personal home improvement loan, McKenzie said.
The company continues to finalize the subcontractor list and did not release names currently on it. Any rooftop solar contract would be between the homeowner and Georgia Power, however, not with the subcontractor, utility executives clarified.
"We're putting our brand behind it," said Ervan Hancock, Georgia Power's manager of renewable development implementation.
Georgia Power also is updating and expanding the portion of its website about rooftop solar. The site walks customers through a series of questions about their home, roof and monthly electric bill to determine whether to move forward with installing solar panels.
Additional steps include talking with a "solar energy expert" at Georgia Power who will review a customer's bill to determine how much money will be saved with a rooftop solar installation. Customers may be referred to one of the roughly two-dozen certified solar contracts on the company's website, or work with the Energy Services group, McKenzie said.
"By the time you get to the point where you want to buy a system, we will walk the customer through to make sure it is really a value or not," he said.
An opening for solar providers
Georgia's law throws open the door for national solar providers to enter the state, though some such as SolarCity and Sunrun are calling for additional policy changes. A few national solar players have entered the Southeast whether or not third-party solar financing has been available.
NRG Energy has pushed into the residential solar market in North Carolina, a state that prohibits such long-term financial arrangements (EnergyWire, Feb. 25). Sunrun recently announced a move into South Carolina, which last year enacted a wide-ranging renewable energy law that includes third-party leasing.
Any of those companies now are welcome in Georgia and can enter into leasing arrangements with homeowners or businesses where the monthly payment is based on the solar system's production. Those companies still cannot directly sell power, McKenzie said.
"The lease payments are based on output," he said. "Only a utility can sell power."
The solar financing law marks a continued transformation of Georgia and the Southeast from a place that was resistant to renewables to one that has a patchwork of pro-solar policies for residents, as well as utility-scale operations that have added solar to the grid.
A surge in solar installations in Georgia over the first three months of 2015 also spurred nearly 3,000 new jobs and burnished the state's status as an emerging hot spot for clean energy in the Southeast (ClimateWire, June 30).
Georgia Power also is close to having 1 gigawatt of solar on its grid by the end of next year. The state had roughly 11 megawatts five years ago.
"This rooftop solar business is just the next evolution of us," Hancock told EnergyWire.
Twitter: @BizWriterKristi | Email: kswartz@eenews.net--