SEIA Cites Potential in Georgia, Southeast Region to Lead in Solar Jobs, Power Installed
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a 25x'25 endorsing partner, last week launched a campaign touting the "vast" potential for solar energy development in the Southeast United States, particularly the untapped state of Georgia.
SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch said the United States "has some of the best solar resources in the world – resources that are more than double that of Germany, the current world leader in solar. With the right policies, solar can play a significant role in creating jobs, growing local economies and cutting energy costs for consumers and businesses."
Resch said that those "who claim the United States does not have enough sun to power our nation are simply wrong." Citing DOE figures, he says that in Georgia, 23.6 percent of electricity could come from rooftop solar alone. "As a policy investment, solar is one of the best values for putting Americans back to work and creating growth opportunities for utilities and small businesses alike in the Southeast and across the country," the SEIA CEO said.
Resch said Georgia currently has more than two dozen solar energy installer, dealer and developer companies in the state, and is poised for continued growth that will create hundreds of permanent jobs over the next two years.
Besides rooftop solar projects, the SEIA says Georgia could gain considerable capacity from PV farms similar to Florida and North Carolina where utilities are also beginning to embrace fuel from the sun. Notably, Duke Energy in North Carolina plans to buy more than 10 megawatts of electricity from a solar farm that SunEdison is building in Davidson County. In early December, Florida Power & Light (FPL) broke ground on the first concentrating solar power plant north of Palm Beach County. In July, FPL selected SunPower to build two solar photovoltaic plants. When these projects are completed and brought online, they will make Florida the country's second-largest solar energy producer.
The SEIA says that after the Southwest, the Southeastern United States boasts some of the best solar resources in the country, noting that Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina have solar resources 60 percent better than Germany, as well as being home to hundreds of companies that manufacture and install solar energy equipment.