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Georgia

Updated July 2010

Contacts:

Overview of Status:

Georgia Tech and Southern Company jointly completed an offshore wind feasibility study and are considering building a small demonstration project. Georgia Tech also has several active wind monitoring stations, and the Georgia Wind Working Group is facilitating wind development in the state.

Proposed Projects:

Georgia Tech and Southern Company recommended that a 10 MW demonstration project be built near Tybee Island.

Georgia Tech currently has three operational wind monitoring stations.

Policy and Regulation:

The Georgia Wind Working Group is an organization established in 2005 with the goal of "advanc[ing] wind activities throughout the state by providing general public education and technical outreach, targeted stakeholder outreach, hosting wind workshops, developing state specific literature, and providing presentations at key events." The group's website offers extensive information resources.

Georgia offshore wind projects would be eligible for a production tax credit of 1.9 cents per kWh.

Studies, Research and Development:

Georgia and South Carolina jointly received a DOE Wind Powering America grant for a project that will "focus on public outreach especially related to economic development, utility and state information sharing and development of best practices as key components to market acceptance for wind energy in South Carolina and Georgia.”

The report Southern Winds: A Study of Wind Power Generation Potential Off the Georgia Coast was released by Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute and Southern Company in 2007. A PowerPoint summary of the report is available here. The study concluded that offshore wind development would be feasible, but that issues remain relating to regulation, cost, and insurability. Potential sites were determined based on wind resources, geophysical characteristics, environmental considerations, competing usage, distance from shore, and comparative costs (public acceptance versus cost of additional cabling, for example).