Solar Power Free Market Financing Act Archives

May 20, 2020

SGR Client Cherry Street Energy to Provide 5.5 MW of Solar Energy to Emory University

SGR’s Sustainability Practice Group is proud to have provided the legal support to our client, Cherry Street Energy, in reaching a groundbreaking agreement with Emory University to install and operate 5.5 MW of solar energy across Emory’s Atlanta campus. Per Emory’s press release, found here, the Solar Energy Procurement Agreement (SEPA) establishing Cherry Street’s project will result in “one of the largest deployments of on-site solar power at a higher education institution in the Southeast.” SGR has represented Cherry Street Energy since it was founded to take advantage of the market created by the Solar Power Free Market Financing Act of… Read more

Dec 1, 2015

Atlanta Announces Plan to Install Solar Installations on 28 City Buildings

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced at a press conference last week, the City of Atlanta’s plan to construct solar installations on 28 city buildings. This project will be made possible using financing authorized by HB 57, the Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015, enacted by the Georgia General Assembly earlier this year. Click HERE to watch Mayor Reed’s press conference. SGR’s Steve O’Day was a principal drafter and negotiator of the legislation. Click HERE to read more about HB 57.

May 18, 2015

A Win for Solar Energy in Georgia: The Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act Becomes Law

On May 12, 2015, Georgia took a giant leap forward in the development of distributed solar power in the state, outpacing all other states in the region. With the enactment of HB 57, The Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015, signed into law today, Georgia becomes the first state in the Southeastern U.S. to legislatively approve private sales of electricity from onsite solar systems as a means of financing solar energy for Georgia businesses, institutions, schools, and homes. The forward-thinking legislators in Georgia’s General Assembly, led by the bill’s sponsor, Representative Mike Dudgeon (R-Johns Creek), recognized that the ability… Read more

Feb 9, 2015

Proposed Solar Financing Legislation Tees Georgia Solar Industry Up for Major Expansion

Representative Mike Dudgeon (R-Johns Creek) introduced HB 57, the Solar Power Free Market Financing Act of 2015, in Georgia’s General Assembly on Thursday, January 15. The bill, which SGR’s Steve O’Day worked closely with Rep. Dudgeon and others in developing language for the bill and in negotiating an agreement among the solar industry and Georgia’s 88 electric utilities, will clarify Georgia law to allow financing of solar systems for residences and businesses in which the payments for the system are based on the electricity produced. Georgia’s businesses and residents will be able to utilize the same kinds of free-market financing for solar… Read more