Green Power EMC Welcomes New Member (11-Sep-07)
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Full article: Green Power EMC Welcomes New Member (11-Sep-07)
Renewable energy use in Georgia, USA.
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Georgia's first renewable energy program, Green Power Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), recently welcomed Okefenoke REMC as its newest member, bringing to 36 the total number of participating electric cooperatives throughout the state of Georgia.
Headquartered in Nahunta, Okefenoke REMC adds another 33,000 consumers to Green Power EMC, a nonprofit cooperative that now offers green energy to more than 1.6 million Georgia households.
"We are very pleased for the support of the EMC family in making renewable energy available to almost three million Georgians," said Green Power EMC President/CEO Michael Whiteside. "We continue to seek new projects to add to our renewable energy portfolio and the 112 million kilowatt hours we have already generated and made available in the last four years."
Green Power EMC formed in August 2001 as the state's premier renewable energy program.
"Based on the resources available to us, Georgia ranks among the top five in the nation, from a cooperative standpoint, in terms of renewable energy programs," according to Whiteside, who named landfill gas, poultry litter and low-impact hydro projects as keys to Green Power EMC's success.
"And we continue to look for other resources," he said.
Programs that provide renewable energy to participating EMCs include the Roberts Road landfill facility, in Fayette County, which generates green energy from a one-megawatt facility and a four-megawatt facility that generates green energy at the Taylor County landfill. The Tallassee Shoals low impact hydro facility near Athens generates 2.3 megawatts of green energy.
Green Power EMC also operates Sun Power for Schools, introduced in the 2005-2006 school year as the first statewide school program to showcase the benefits of solar energy. Participating EMCs partner with a middle or high school to install a photovoltaic system to harness energy from the sun. To date, Georgia's EMCs have installed solar panels at 14 middle or high schools. A monitoring device allows students to see the amount of energy produced each day, and the accumulated data is used in math and science classes and is posted on the Internet to share with other schools. Sun Power for Schools was made possible by an $180,000 grant from Green Power EMC to further research and development and bring to market additional renewable resources.
Green Power EMC has sought additional renewable resources to add to its generating capacity, including plans to purchase 20 megawatts of electricity from the first poultry litter-to-energy operation in Georgia. The electricity will be provided by Earth Resources Inc., which is constructing a chicken litter-to-electricity plant near Carnesville, about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta.
In 2005, Green Power EMC launched a test to evaluate the potential of wind generation in Georgia by collecting wind data from a meteorological tower installed at the Rocky Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp. and Georgia Power in Floyd County. Green Power EMC recently announced it would move to the next phase of study which includes getting input from the local community and exploring regulatory, environmental and project design issues. If developed, the project could result in generation of six megawatts of wind capacity.
Green Power EMC has sought to develop a green power partnership with participating cooperatives across the state. As its newest member, Okefenoke REMC will broaden this participation by offering competitively priced renewable energy to homes and businesses within its service territory.
For more information on Green Power EMC, visit its recently revised Web site at www.greenpoweremc.com.
- Source: Digital50.com
