Southface Institute: Blog

On July 16, 2019, the Georgia Public Service Commissioners approved recommendations by Vote Solar and Southface Institute and committed Georgia Power to invest in more than two gigawatts of clean energy over the next three years.

Is more widespread adoption of renewable energy at scale just around the corner? Many people in the industry see it as inevitable, though projected timeframes vary widely. The intermittent nature of wind and solar energy is one often-cited factor constraining wider adoption. Solar and wind provide varied output depending on geography, climate, weather and time of day. This is one of many reasons why we are still seeing deployment of non-renewable resources in addition to renewable resources across the nation.

By Bailey Shea This article originally appeared in SaportaReport Sustainable Communities – Thought Leadership on July 23, 2018. Georgia’s solar capacity in 2017 ranked second in the Southeast. Ninety-five percent …

Continue reading "The State of Rooftop Solar in Georgia"

In 2017, the City of Atlanta enacted legislation to power municipal buildings and facilities using 100 percent clean electricity by 2025, and over the next decade the entire city is …

Continue reading "Sonnen Harnesses the Power of Georgia’s Solar Market"

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Georgia is one of the top 10 solar states. There are 170,000 homes powered by solar and there are 3,924 solar jobs in the state, but how can we make solar power and energy efficiency more accessible?

Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans join the 100% campaign to surprise five real life superheroes in Atlanta who are champions of clean energy for all.

Cliff Valley School covered its gymnasium roof with solar panels in August, completing the largest solar project undertaken by an Atlanta area school. With a capacity of 62.56 kW, the school expects to meet up to one third of its energy needs via solar power by the end of 2017.

Brighter days are ahead for the Len Foote Hike Inn, an environmentally sustainable wilderness lodge in the North Georgia mountains, thanks to a newly installed 53.72 kW solar photovoltaic array. The “Above the Grid” solar project supplies nearly 70 percent of the inn’s electricity needs and will educate thousands of guests annually about the value of sustainable environmental practices.

Georgia has an uplifting solar story to tell. We had 22 megawatts (MW) of installed solar in 2012 when Southface launched the Solar Map available on www.GeorgiaEnergyData.org. The state exceeded …

Continue reading "Georgia’s Low-Income Housing Developers Can Lead on Solar"

When Southface started building a database to track Georgia’s installed solar capacity in 2012, we were hunting for kilowatts (kWs). Four years later, GeorgiaEnergyData.org shows that we have more than 1,100 MW of installed solar capacity.