With the signing and enactment of the Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015 (HB 57), Georgia approved third-party sales of electricity. This bill allows Georgia businesses, institutions, schools, and homes to enter into power purchase agreements - legislatively known as a solar energy procurement agreements or SEPAs - with a non-utility power provider to purchase emission-free electricity produced from on-site solar power systems. Macon-Bibb County was the first commercial customer to benefit from this legislation; and, as a result, Cherry Street Energy was the first third-party company in the state of Georgia to sell commercial solar power.
Cherry Street has worked with Macon-Bibb County to install solar power systems on buildings around the county, totaling 11 over the course of the partnership. With Cherry Street owning, operating, and maintaining these systems, the county has more budget and headcount that can be focused in other areas. Additionally, the clean energy benefits of these systems has established the county as a steward of sustainability in the middle-Georgia region.
Cherry Street's solar power systems help energize the facilities on which they operate. These systems vary in size from a smaller 30-kilowatt system at the Theron Ussery Community Center; to the biggest in the county, a 203-kilowatt system located at the Juvenile Justice Center. The most recent of these sites, at the Bloomfield Library, was energized in April of 2023, and the oldest was energized in 2018 at the county Sheriff's Office.
To date, these solar power systems have generated more than 2,991,700 kilowatt hours of solar power for the county. Additionally, they've had a positive environmental impact by allowing the county to avoid more than two metric tons of carbon emissions.
To put the power output of these systems into perspective, they have produced enough energy to power 273 homes for an entire year or charge over 137 million smart devices. This production has also resulted in a significant amount energy savings, which the county is able to reinvest into their operations .
Altogether these systems address 15% of the electricity needs for the facilities they help energize.
Because this relationship is facilitated through a SEPA, Cherry Street and Macon-Bibb County can identify and build on additional sites suitable for solar power without starting the entire processes over from the beginning. The agreement allows the streamlined construction of these systems, and the next phase of installations for the county is incoming.
Former Mayor Robert Reichert first envisioned Macon-Bibb taking full advantage of the opportunity HB 57 provided by bringing solar to the county, and thus positioning the county as the leader in sustainability in the middle-Georgia region. With the partnership between Macon-Bibb County and Cherry Street ever expanding, the county is able to deliver on Reichert's vision.
Alongside other initiatives like Reimagining the Civic Commons and projects by the Parks and Beautification Department, Cherry Street’s solar power systems in Macon-Bibb County fit into that larger picture of sustainable development for the region, benefitting the community and its citizens - now and in the future.