These solar projects are being developed in the southern part of Georgia for Green Power EMC, a not-for-profit cooperative founded in 2001 by electric cooperatives, like Sawnee, to solicit, screen and recommend renewable power agreements to participating members.
Sawnee will not have an investment or ownership interest in any of these solar projects; the cooperative has simply agreed to purchase a portion of the solar energy generated at a fixed price, for the next 30 years. The facilities will be funded and built by Silicon Ranch, one of the nation’s largest independent solar power producers. Silicon Ranch will also own, operate and maintain the arrays.
“This action demonstrates our ongoing commitment to having a competitively priced, and environmentally responsible, diversified generation portfolio which meets the ever-changing energy needs of our growing membership,” states Michael A. Goodroe, President and CEO of Sawnee.
Of the 194 MW these four (4) projects represent, Sawnee has subscribed to 20 MW, or 10.309%, of the total energy output of these sites. The projects are scheduled to be constructed and will come online, in stages, no later than December 2021.
Sawnee has previously participated in other renewable generation projects that included landfill gas, biomass, and utility-scale solar and with the addition of these four new projects, it has brought its portfolio of renewable generation assets under contract to 69 MW.
