CUMMING — Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation (Sawnee EMC) has purchased a 34% percent stake in a new 52 megawatt (MW) solar project, which will be located in Jeff Davis County, near Hazlehurst.
This is the third such project that Sawnee’s Board of Directors has approved during the past twelve months. This new project will bring Sawnee’s total solar generation capacity to 42 MW; which is enough solar energy to power thousands of homes.
This new solar endeavor, from which Sawnee EMC and eight other Georgia EMCs, including Jefferson-based Jackson EMC, will receive the output, is located on a 600-acre tract of South GA farmland. The site will be covered with hundreds of thousands of ground-mounted solar panels; each of which will track the sun as the day passes, which makes them more efficient.
The panels capture the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity, which will then be imported onto the electric grid, and transmitted throughout the state.
This new 52 MW solar project will produce over 130 million kWh of electricity annually.
Construction on the new Hazlehurst project will begin in early 2016 and Sawnee members will be using the solar power resources by no later than early 2017.
Jackson EMC announced its participation in the endeavor a few days ago. Click here http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/5/313046/jackson-emc-participates-in-large-solar-installation to read that story.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/5/313815/sawnee-emc-buys-34-share-of-new-ga-solar-project