Georgia Power has filed a new solar initiative – the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative ("GPASI") – with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC). If approved, the initiative would create the largest voluntarily developed solar portfolio from an investor-owned utility. Through GPASI, Georgia Power would acquire 210 megawatts of additional solar capacity through long term contracts over a three-year period.
To meet the target of 210 megawatts, Georgia Power's Utility Scale program would purchase 60 megawatts annually for three years through a competitive request for proposal (RFP) program with projects ranging in size from 1-20 megawatts. By as early as 2013, a Distributed Scale program would provide opportunities for up to 10 megawatts 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, 2014, and 2015, and require commercial operation dates in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Georgia Power could begin signing solar contracts under the Distributed Scale program as early as first quarter of 2013.
Developed in cooperation with the PSC, the GPASI will complement the company's existing solar resources, which include leading-edge research and demonstration projects and a 50-megawatt Large Scale Solar program already in place.