Critics call for Georgia to allow third-party solar projects

SOLAR: Advocates and investors call for Georgia to allow limited third-party construction of community solar arrays as Georgia Power’s ​“flawed” program remains only a quarter full. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

CLEAN ENERGY: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm calls Georgia the ​“tip of the spear” for the clean energy transition, citing its significant private sector investment in solar, electric vehicle and battery manufacturing that’s been driven by federal tax credits. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

HYDROPOWER: Kentucky officials celebrate the 80th anniversary of the largest dam in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s river system. (Central Kentucky News Journal)

BIOFUELS: A biochar plant opens in Virginia that will transform waste wood into syngas. (Virginia Business)

UTILITIES: West Virginia regulators dismiss a rate hike request from subsidiaries of American Electric Power due to incomplete information in their application, although they can refile immediately. (West Virginia Watch)

POLITICS: Republican Congress members from the Southeast debate whether to roll back clean energy tax credits passed by Democrats that have boosted economic growth in GOP-led states. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY: Georgia regulators’ justification for approving a utility’s purchase of 80 MW of power from wood-fired plants — that it will support the state’s timber industry — is ​“bizarre” considering they’ve never discussed supporting the state’s burgeoning solar manufacturing industry, says the director of the state’s Sierra Club chapter. (news release)