Community Solar Supporters Gearing Up To Push Third-party Provider Bill
Solar power advocates in Georgia are renewing a push for legislation that would let Georgia Power customers buy electricity from thirdparty providers of solar energy.
A bill that would open the door to so-called 'community' solar projects in the Peach State failed to gain traction in the General Assembly during this year's legislative session. However, the state House of Representatives created an ad hoc committee to consider the proposal this summer and fall.
Community solar projects are smaller than utility-scale solar projcontinued from page
ects but larger than rooftop solar panels installed by individual property owners. Community solar allows residential and business property owners who might not be able to afford rooftop solar to participate in solar energy development.
'We are confident a market-based community solar program under the regulation of the (Georgia) Public Service Commission (PSC) would be a benefit to Georgia,' Bob Sherrier, a staff attorney with the Atlanta- based Southern Environmental Law Center, told members of the committee during a hearing Nov. 19.
'What I see here is an opportunity for free-market principles to operate,' added state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, a member of the committee.
Under this year's House Bill 1152, customers could subscribe with community solar providers for projects producing no more than six megawatts of power and receive a credit in return. The fees subscribers pay would go toward building community solar projects.
Sherrier cited a recent study conducted by the Coalition for Community Solar Access, a national solar power advocacy group, that found solar projects create 16 jobs and $2 million in economic impact for every solar megawatt produced.
'The community solar model works … because community solar adds significant value to the whole grid,' he said.
But Georgia Power opposes third-party community solar projects for several reasons.
Wilson Mallard, the Atlanta- based utility's director of renewable development, said Georgia Power already offers a robust community solar program with about 2,000 customers.
'We've got a vibrant renewable market,' he said. 'Putting that at risk for the benefits this bill would provide is not in Georgians' best interests.'
Since the PSC would regulate community solar providers under this year's bill, the measure would not have applied to Georgia's electric membership cooperatives (EMCs). But Chris Stephens, president and CEO of Coweta-Fayette EMC, told the committee he's concerned that any legislation introduced in 2025 might be extended to cover EMCs. He questioned the need for third parties to build community solar projects in Georgia when the state already ranks seventh in the nation for solar.
'For solar developers, House Bill 1152 is a dream piece of legislation,' Stephens said. 'It allows any independent solar developer to set up as many 30- to 35-acre solar installations as they like across the state.'
Mallard also argued that allowing Georgia Power customers to buy electricity from third-party community solar providers would force customers who don't sign up for community solar to shoulder some of the program's costs.
'The customers who participate in community solar no longer pay to Georgia Power but to a third-party provider,' he said. 'That causes a shortfall … a shift in the cost recovery from participants to non-participants.'
But Sherrier isn't buying the cost-shifting argument.
'The utilities oppose customer-driven third-party owned projects like community solar because they threaten to supplant utility investments and take away from shareholder profits,' he said.
Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth, another member of the ad hoc committee, said the status quo doesn't seem to be working when so few Georgia Power customers are participating in the utility's in-house community solar program.
'If you're only able to provide community solar to 2,000 out of 2.7 million customers, doesn't it show something is not working here?' she asked Mallard. 'Maybe we should be allowed to try something new.'
Mallard said Georgia Power is working to improve all of its solar programs.
'We need to add solar,' he said. 'We just need to add it in a way that produces the best value for our customers.'
