The Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) on a 4-0 vote on Feb. 15 approved the submission of an application to Georgia Power for the Rockaway Road property as a potential site for a solar project designed to sell electricity to Ga. Power and provide long-term revenue to the authority and its customers.
Above, rows of solar panel arrays in a field. Photo/Shutterstock.
WASA consultant Jason Bodwell, with CHM2/Jacobs, advised the board on the various aspects of the Ga. Power REDI (Renewable Energy Development Initiative) project available on 22 acres at the Rockaway Road Wastewater Treatment Plant property. The solar array would use approximately 2.5 acres at the site.
The board agreed on a 25-year Ga. Power PPA (Power Purchase Agreement).
WASA has current funding for the project and received five bids, though those will not be discussed until a later date, once the application process has concluded. Bids, which ranged from $714,452 to $1.162 million, showed a rate of return on the total project price ranging from 15-23 years.
Bodwell noted that a current solar system has a lifetime of 40 or more years.
If the project moves forward, board members discussed the idea of having the large balance of the 22-acre site potentially leased for other uses, such as additional solar projects.
The idea of installing solar panels as a way of generating long-term revenue on unused WASA property first surfaced several years ago, with discussions on the current project beginning a year ago.
The WASA board decided not to pursue a second potential solar project, one designed as a floating array in a pond at the Line Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
