Coastal Electric Cooperative ‘Flips the Switch’ on New 68-Megawatt Houston Solar Project

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive par­tic­i­pat­ed in a ded­i­ca­tion event to “flip the switch” on the new 68-megawatt (MWAC) Hous­ton Solar project. Coastal Elec­tric is among thir­ty Geor­gia elec­tric coop­er­a­tives that will col­lec­tive­ly share in the Hous­ton Coun­ty, Ga., site’s pow­er pro­duc­tion.

Statewide and local­ly-elect­ed offi­cials includ­ing Lt. Gov­er­nor Geoff Dun­can, Com­mis­sion­er of Agri­cul­ture Gary Black and mem­bers of the Geor­gia Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion were in atten­dance at the event to cel­e­brate the project and learn about the pos­i­tive ben­e­fits it deliv­ers to the local com­mu­ni­ty and cit­i­zens across the state.

Green Pow­er EMC, the renew­able ener­gy provider owned by 38 Geor­gia elec­tric coop­er­a­tives, includ­ing Coastal Elec­tric, is pur­chas­ing all the ener­gy and envi­ron­men­tal attrib­ut­es gen­er­at­ed by the Hous­ton Solar site on behalf of its mem­ber coop­er­a­tives.

As a clean ener­gy source, the solar site’s envi­ron­men­tal off­set is equiv­a­lent to approx­i­mate­ly 124,000 met­ric tons of green­house gas emis­sions annu­al­ly. The Hous­ton Solar site also co-locates renew­able ener­gy pro­duc­tion with regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture prac­tices on the same land, includ­ing land man­age­ment using planned sheep graz­ing.

“We serve our mem­bers with a diverse port­fo­lio of reli­able, afford­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly respon­si­ble ener­gy, and solar pow­er has become an increas­ing­ly impor­tant part of our strat­e­gy,” said Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive CEO Chris Fettes. “We are proud that through our par­tic­i­pa­tion in this inno­v­a­tive renew­able ener­gy project, we can help serve our mem­bers’ pow­er needs with cost-effec­tive solar ener­gy.”

Ener­gy received from the Hous­ton Solar site will be avail­able to Coastal Elec­tric mem­bers through the Coop­er­a­tive Solar pro­gram. Mem­bers can con­tact Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive at (800) 421‑2343 or vis­it this page for more infor­ma­tion.

About Green Pow­er EMC

Green Pow­er EMC is a not-for-prof­it coop­er­a­tive found­ed in 2001 to sup­port 38 of Georgia’s elec­tric coop­er­a­tives in their search for renew­able resources. The pri­ma­ry efforts of Green Pow­er EMC have been to find, screen, ana­lyze, and nego­ti­ate pow­er pur­chase agree­ments with Geor­gia-based renew­able resource providers. In addi­tion to sourc­ing renew­able ener­gy, Green Pow­er EMC pro­vides edu­ca­tion pro­grams that help mem­ber-con­sumers learn both the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties of uti­liz­ing renew­able ener­gy. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it greenpoweremc.com.