Known as the Peach State, Georgia is the ideal area for the development of solar parks thanks to the many sunlight hours it gets in a year. There have been solar power booms in Georgia in the last decade with solar farms being developed and rising out of nowhere. 2021, Georgia ranked 9th in the USA for installed solar capacity.
1) Silicon Ranch Corporation (Nashville, US)
Silicon Ranch is one of the largest independent solar producers in the United States: Almost 150 facilities and nearly 2GW across the US-states are being operated by the solar power company. Silicon Ranch was the first to develop utility-scale solar in Georgia. For example. the company developed the 100 MW Lumpkin Solar farm in Stewart County together with IEA and the 80 MW Lancaster Solar Farm in Calhoun County and the 107 MW Snipesville II Solar Farm in Jeff Davis County together with McCarthy.
2) RWE Renewables (Essen, Germany)
RWE Renewables is the renewables subsidiary of RWE which is one of the largest German energy supply companies. RWE Renewables‘ portfolio consists of large-scale onshore and offshore wind, solar and energy storage. It is the second largest developer in offshore wind power in the world and Europe’s number three in renewable energy. RWE Renewables acts globally with a focus on the United States, Europe as well as the Asia Pacific region. In Georgia specifically, the company has started operations at a 195MW solar and 40MW storage plant called the Hickory Park solar project. Located in Mitchell County, the energy from the project is sold to the public utility Georgia Power with which RWE signed a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in November 2019.
3) Invenergy (Chicago, US)
Invenergy is a US-based global developer and operator of sustainable energy. The company has developed already over 190 projects across four continents. Its projects include the development of wind and solar energy as well as energy storage. In Georgia, the renewable energy developer has started operations at its 160MW solar plant called Southern Oak in 2022. The facility, which had been in development since 2018, is located in Mitchell County. Just as the previous developer, Invenergy also signed a 30-year PPA to sell all of the energy from the solar plant to Georgia Power.
Image Source: American Public Power Association via Unsplash (28.06.2022)
