Officials from Georgia Power and the Department of the Navy (DON) joined elected officials, community leaders and other dignitaries at Naval Submarine Base (SUBASE) Kings Bay near St. Marys, Georgia on Sept. 19 to mark the start of operations of a new 30-MW on-base solar facility.
The 30-MW alternating current, or 42 MW direct current, solar generation facility is the first completed by the Southern (NYSE:SO) utility in collaboration with the Navy and joins a similar 30 MW on-base solar facility recently completed with the U.S. Army at Fort Benning.
Georgia Power is currently developing more than 150 MW of solar generation to serve the state’s electric customers through strategic projects with the DON and the U.S. Army. In addition to the facilities now online at SUBASE Kings Bay and Fort Benning, new Georgia Power solar facilities are under construction at Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart and the Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Albany.
The SUBASE Kings Bay solar facility was built and is owned and operated by Georgia Power with energy delivered to state’s electric grid at or below the company’s avoided cost (the amount projected it would cost the company to generate comparable energy from other sources). The solar project at SUBASE Kings Bay occupies 254 acres, utilizes approximately 133,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) panels and is estimated to represent a $75m investment at the installation.
In coordination with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), Georgia Power continues to develop renewable energy as part of a diverse generation portfolio through programs designed to prevent upward pressure on customer rates, the utility said.
Most recently, Georgia Power received approval from the Georgia PSC to add up to 1,600 MW of new renewable generation by 2021, as well as new demonstration projects to study wind and solar generation opportunities as part of its 2016 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
