Maybe it’s because I’d been listening to classic rock on the car radio, but my first thought when I saw all those gleaming silver rectangles was a Beatles song: “Here Comes the Sun.”
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Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River, with eight million acres of prime farmland.
Yet, there’s so much concern over the spread of solar farms eating up huge portions of that acreage with vast fields of solar panels that the state Senate has formed a study committee to explore what can be done to save the most fertile land for farmers.
“We’ve lost a little over two and a half million acres of farmland in the last 40 years,” said Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, who will chair the Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands. “We’ve got to make sure to protect our farmland.”
Other factors are playing a role in the rapid shrinkage of farmland in Georgia, including the construction of housing subdivisions to accommodate population growth, warehouse-distribution centers and – most recently – data centers.
But solar projects also have cropped up across the state during the last decade, including some rooftop installations on individual homes and businesses but mostly the larger “utility-scale” deployments of fields of solar panels known as solar farms.
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Whether a solar system is a “fixture” sounds like a mundane legal issue – but it has significant implications for the residential solar industry and for the financing of residential solar systems.
If a system is regarded as a “fixture” of the house to which it is attached, then the enforceability and priority of the finance company’s lien on the system will be subject to applicable real estate law. If, however, the system is not a “fixture,” then the system would be viewed as a “consumer good” with the finance company’s rights in the system governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) – which provides for a much more straightforward process for finance companies to preserve and protect liens on their financed systems.
The risk to a finance company is particularly acute if a solar system is deemed a “fixture” of the house on which it is installed, as that could render the finance company’s lien on the system either unenforceable or subordinate to any mortgages on the house itself.
Despite the significance of this issue, few courts have considered the issue of whether residential solar systems should be viewed as fixtures or consumer goods. Recently, however, in the In re Evans case, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico addressed the issue, first determining whether the home of the couple in bankruptcy was encumbered by a purchase money security interest in the solar system installed on the roof of the couple’s house before it could consider the otherwise unrelated issue of a judgment lien asserted by another creditor against the house.
In a potentially significant ruling for solar power finance companies, the bankruptcy court held that “solar panels are not fixtures” and that the residential solar system retained its character as a consumer good even after installation (see In re Evans, No. 23-10622 T13, 2023 WL 8606655, at *1 (Bankr. D.N.M. Dec. 12, 2023).
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By Clark Adomaitis, Voices From the Edge of the Colorado Plateau
A proposed solar farm on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation will have 2.2 million solar panels and will be eight miles long and one mile wide.
Tribal officials worked with the international renewable energy company Canigou Group to plan the Sun Bear Solar Farm near Towaoc, Colorado. Officials say the project will create more than 500 local jobs for electricians and laborers.
Officials are planning to break ground on the construction of the Sun Bear Solar Farm later in 2024, with the goal of producing electricity in 2026. Annual capacity is estimated to be about 756 megawatts.
Canigou Group and Adkins Consulting conducted biological and archeological surveys of the grounds where Sun Bear is set to be constructed.
Canigou Group’s director, Justin Passfield, said the project will cost more than $1 billion. Passfield said electricity generated from the solar farm will connect to the Western Area Power Administration power line. Still, it’s unclear what regional entities Canigou will sell the electricity to.
“We’re thinking about the power needs within Colorado,” said Passfield. “But also, it makes sense not to transmit power too far from where you are. Having said that, we’re going to be producing a large amount of power. So I’m not sure that all of it will be able to be consumed within Colorado.”
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the Small Innovative Projects in Solar (SIPS) 2024 funding opportunity. This annual funding opportunity will award $6.5 million for seedling R&D projects that focus on innovative and novel ideas in photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) and are riskier than research ideas based on established technologies.
This funding opportunity is designed to streamline the application process to encourage applications from early-career researchers who have never applied or been selected for a SETO project award. Applicants must submit a plan to broaden the participation of well-qualified members of underrepresented groups on their teams. These efforts will help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to increase the diversity of those working in applied energy research fields.
SETO expects to make approximately 14 to 24 awards, each ranging between $250,000 and $400,000. Diverse teams from universities, federally funded research and development centers, nonprofits, community-based organizations, state agencies, local governments, and solar developers are encouraged to apply.
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S3176 – Requires DEP and Drinking Water Quality Institute to perform a study concerning the regulation and treatment of perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
A1755 – Requires installation of operational automatic rain sensor or smart sprinkler as condition of sale of certain real properties, and on certain commercial, retail, and industrial properties and common interest communities within specified timeframes.
S2505 – Requires installation of operational automatic rain sensor or smart sprinkler as condition of sale of certain real properties, and on certain commercial, retail, and industrial properties and common interest communities within specified timeframes.
A4522 – Requires certain disclosures by sellers of single-family homes with solar panels installed.
For general information and assistance, contact the Office of Public Information at (800) 792-8630
A4691 – Requires hazard mitigation plans to include climate change-related threat assessments and hazard prevention and mitigation strategies.
S1530 – Requires hazard mitigation plans to include climate change-related threat assessments and hazard prevention and mitigation strategies.
A4791 – Establishes “Resiliency and Environmental System Investment Charge Program.”
S3184 – Establishes “Resiliency and Environmental System Investment Charge Program.”
A4794 – Requires request for proposal to establish demonstration projects to develop electric vehicle charging depots serviced by distributed energy resource charging centers for certain electric vehicle use.
A5442 – Directs BPU to conduct a study to determine the feasibility, marketability, and costs of implementing large-scale geothermal heat pump systems in the State.
A5806 – Appropriates $48 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to DEP for State acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including Blue Acres projects, and Green Acres Program administrative costs.
S4165 – Appropriates $48 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to DEP for State acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including Blue Acres projects, and Green Acres Program administrative costs.
A5807 – Appropriates $58 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues for recreation and conservation purposes to DEP for State capital and park development projects.
A5809 – Amends lists of projects eligible to receive loans for environmental infrastructure projects from NJ Infrastructure Bank for FY 2024.
S4097 – Amends lists of projects eligible to receive loans for environmental infrastructure projects from NJ Infrastructure Bank for FY 2024.
A5810 – Amends lists of environmental infrastructure projects approved for long-term funding by DEP under FY 2024 environmental infrastructure funding program.
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