While the current U.S. president denies the existence of man-made Climate Change and has put an anti-science clique in charge of federal agencies, a former president has turned into a renewable energy mogul.
President Carter’s energy legacy is substantial, and many of the policies which he helped enact in the 1970s are only now proving their worth. Carter is famous for putting solar (thermal) panels on the white house, but also created the U.S. Department of Energy, whose SunShot Initiative supported the fall in U.S. solar costs. Additionally, he signed the Public Utilities Regulatory Act of 1978 (PURPA), which is enabling solar markets to boom in states with weak or no renewable energy mandates.
However, Carter is not resting on his laurels. Last Wednesday he and his wife helped to inaugurate a solar PV project located on land which he leased near the small town of Plains, Georgia, Carter’s hometown.
Local solar developer and EPC SolAmerica Energy developed and built the project, which includes 1.3 MW of PV modules mounted on single-axis tracking systems. The project will supply electricity to Georgia Power under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
“Distributed, clean energy generation is critical to meeting growing energy needs around the world while fighting the effects of climate change,” stated Carter. “I am encouraged by the tremendous progress that solar and other clean energy solutions have made in recent years and expect those trends to continue.”
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