The Georgia Public Service Commission has, in a 5-0 vote, approved Atlanta-based utility Georgia Power's new solar initiative - the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative (GPASI).
Through the GPASI, the utility will acquire 210 MW of additional solar capacity through long-term contracts over a two-year period. According to Georgia Power, the initiative creates the largest voluntarily developed solar portfolio from an investor-owned utility.
To meet the target of 210 MW, Georgia Power's utility-scale program will purchase 60 MW annually for two years through a competitive request for proposals (RFP) program with projects ranging in size from 1 MW to 20 MW. By as early as 2013, a distributed-scale program will provide opportunities for up to 45 MW per year of smaller solar projects with specific reservations for small-scale (less than 100 kW) and medium-scale (100-1,000 kW) projects.
RFPs for the utility-scale program will be conducted in 2013 and 2014 and require commercial operation dates in 2015 and 2016. Georgia Power says it could begin signing solar contracts under the distributed-scale program as early the first quarter of 2013.
