Advanced Solar Initiative

Due to the high volume of inquiries at this time, Georgia Power will not be able to provide firm interconnection estimates for all projects prior to applying. Georgia Power Region Engineers may be able to provide non-binding estimated costs to interconnect at the customer site prior to submitting the application. Please be aware these high level estimates do not include detailed system studies or capacity related reviews and are subject to change. A detailed study (which includes capacity review) and firm estimate will be performed after submitted projects are approved. To begin the process of obtaining a non-binding estimate, contact Georgia Power Customer Service at 1-866-446-7513 (M-F, 8am – 5pm EST) and mention you are calling about GPASI and need an order to obtain an interconnection estimate from a local engineer.

Each customer account is limited to a 1 MW DC nameplate capacity per address and no more than 9 MWs worth of participation within the program.

For instance: Customer X has 10 addresses each with separate account numbers and wants to develop a 1 MW facility at each site. Georgia Power will only grant Customer X the opportunity to develop 9 of those sites in 2013 since the program is capped at 9 MWs per customer for the Advanced Solar Initiative Program.

GPASI is designed for installations located at customer locations with solar generating capacity less than or equal to the peak demand of the customer facility.  Applications that meet these criteria will be allowed to participate under the terms and conditions of the GPASI proposal and accompanying contracts.

However, if a proposed solar installation capacity exceeds the existing site demand or the installation is a new site with no existing account (within Georgia Power territory), the solar installation may still be submitted as an application and may be allowed to participate.  Georgia Power will assess the distribution impacts and costs, as well as the interconnection costs, and all costs will be the responsibility of the applicant.

For green field sites, Georgia Power will allow participation in the program in 2013 but will re-evaluate the opportunity for participation in 2014.

To be considered for participation, applications must be completed, including all necessary attachments, and submitted online through PowerClerk by March 11, 2013. If completed applications exceed program capacity limits (45 MW) Georgia Power will conduct a lottery with PSC oversight to ensure transparency and fairness for all applicants. Applicants will be notified by April 5th of projects selected through the lottery.

Application will open on March 1st 2013. This will be an online-only process using Power Clerk. In order to successfully submit your application online, you will be required to attach five documents to your submission:

1. One Line Diagram of the solar Facility showing the inverter(s), lockable, visible break disconnect switch and any other generators at the Facility or service address.
2. Documentation proving Participant’s ownership or other legally valid property interest in the Facility site, or a signed, non-binding letter of intent with the site owner permitting submission of the application for the site.
3. Inverter and solar panel electrical specifications.
4. Photocopy of the application fee check. Note: You will be required to send the physical check for your application fee via a courier (ex: FedEx, UPS, USPS etc) service with a tracking number to Georgia Power. The tracking number must be included in the required field in your application submission.
5. Scanned Copy of the agreement, signed and dated.

Site control is documentation of applicant’s ownership or other legally valid property interest in the proposed site, or a signed, non-binding letter of intent with the site owner permitting submission of the application for the site.

No. The Small and Medium Solar Agreement serves as the Interconnection Agreement.

“Creditworthy” – means a Person has an investment-grade rating such that its senior unsecured debt (or issuer rating if such Person has no senior unsecured debt rating) is rated at least (i) BBB- by Standard & Poor’s Rating Group (“S&P”), if rated by S&P, (ii) Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., (“Moody’s”), if rated by Moody’s, and (iii) BBB- by Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”), if rated by Fitch, or a comparable rating from any entity succeeding to the functions and business of any of such rating agencies, respectively. While a Person is not required to have a senior unsecured debt rating (or issuer rating if such Person has no senior unsecured debt rating) from each of S&P, Moody’s and Fitch, a Person shall no longer be “Creditworthy” if such Person ceases to have a senior unsecured debt rating (or issuer rating if such Person has no senior unsecured debt rating) from at least one S&P, Moody’s and Fitch, or from any entity succeeding to the functions and business of any of such rating agencies, respectively.

If your application is not selected to participate in the program or if you are selected to be on the waiting list, then your fee will be refunded.

Georgia Power will notify applicants of the small and medium scale program by April 1st that their application has been received, deemed complete, falls within limitations set for the program and if selected to expect someone to contact them to pursue execution of a PPA.

If applications exceed program capacity limits, Georgia Power will conduct a lottery for all approved participant applications no later than April 5th.

If Georgia Power receives more than 45 MW of approved applications in 2013, a waiting list composing of 20 % of capacity (9 MW) will be established for future participation in 2013 should any of the previously awarded projects fail to meet commercial operation in a timely manner.

The facility has to reach commercial operation within six (6) months of Georgia Power’s Acceptance Date. If necessary, Georgia Power will conduct an interconnection study to determine if the Facility will adversely impact the electric system. The study may identify necessary system upgrades, and if applicable, Georgia Power will develop estimated costs of system upgrades needed to interconnect the Facility. Georgia Power will provide a copy of the study to the Participant and will meet with the Participant upon request to review these results. If there are costs resulting from the addition of the Facility to the system, the Participant is required to pay these costs before Georgia Power will interconnect the Facility to the distribution system.

The Acceptance Date is not the date the application was submitted, but the date the application is approved by Georgia Power and awarded capacity into the program.

Because interest in this program has exceeded program capacity limits (45 MW), Georgia Power will conduct a lottery, with PSC oversight, to ensure transparency and fairness for all applicants. The lottery will be conducted on or by April 5th, 2013.

Applications that are selected through the lottery will subsequently receive a status update of "approved" through PowerClerk. If you are selected through the lottery process, please note that even though your application may be marked "complete" and/or "approved" there still may be issues that must be resolved prior to your installation. You will be assigned a Project Manager and we encourage you to work with your Project Manager to ensure that your project is capable of being brought on-line with respect to the program guidelines.

Additionally, a contingent of projects will be selected through the lottery to fulfill a waiting list. Projects that are selected through the waiting list will receive additional communications from Georgia Power.

All applications not selected in the lottery or for the waiting list will receive a PowerClerk status update of "denied" No later than April 12th.

All application fees (checks) will be returned via certified mail no later than April 30th, 2013.

The Participant will be responsible for ensuring a safe and reliable interconnection with the Company’s electric system and all costs incurred therein per Southern Company’s “Parallel Operation of Generation on the Distribution System,” which sets forth the criteria for interconnection including system protection requirements, power quality, and operating guidelines.

Due to the high volume of inquiries at this time, Georgia Power will not be able to provide firm interconnection estimates for all projects prior to applying. Georgia Power Region Engineers may be able to provide non-binding estimated costs to interconnect at the customer site prior to submitting the application. Please be aware these high level estimates do not include detailed system studies or capacity related reviews and are subject to change. A detailed study (which includes capacity review) and firm estimate will be performed after submitted projects are approved. To begin the process of obtaining a non-binding estimate, contact Georgia Power Customer Service at 1-866-446-7513 (M-F, 8am – 5pm EST) and mention you are calling about GPASI and need an order to obtain an interconnection estimate from a local engineer.

If your application is not selected to participate in the program or if you are selected to be on the waiting list, then your fee will be refunded.

The customer/developer retains ownership of all RECs. Georgia Power purchases only the energy.

Participants can elect to receive a credit on their bill or payments issued directly to them. We will issue checks if the credit is consistently greater than the cost of the electric service.

The participant will have to become a Georgia Power customer. A separate meter is required to track the production of the solar installation, therefore the participant needs to establish a Georgia Power account (GS is most often recommended for small commercial accounts), and then the credits will be issued through that account.  We will issue checks if the credit is consistently greater than the cost of the electric service.

The Participant will be responsible for ensuring a safe and reliable interconnection with the Company’s electric system and all costs incurred therein per the Southern Company’s “Parallel Operation of Generation on the Distribution System,” which sets forth the criteria for interconnection including system protection requirements, power quality, and operating guidelines.

Due to the high volume of inquiries at this time, Georgia Power will not be able to provide firm interconnection estimates for all projects prior to applying. Georgia Power Region Engineers may be able to provide non-binding estimated costs to interconnect at the customer site prior to submitting the application. Please be aware these high level estimates do not include detailed system studies or capacity related reviews and are subject to change. A detailed study (which includes capacity review) and firm estimate will be performed after submitted projects are approved. To begin the process of obtaining a non-binding estimate, contact Georgia Power Customer Service at 1-866-446-7513 (M-F, 8am – 5pm EST) and mention you are calling about GPASI and need an order to obtain an interconnection estimate from a local engineer.

If your application is not selected to participate in the program or if you are selected to be on the waiting list, then your fee will be refunded.

The customer/developer retains ownership of all RECs. Georgia Power purchases only the energy.

If participant’s annual capacity factor falls below 10 percent of the generator’s maximum production capability or if annual capacity factor is greater than 20 percent of the generator’s maximum production capability, then the participant must make necessary adjustments or repairs to correct its annual capacity factor.

1. *The calculation of annual Capacity Factor is: % CF = annual kWh/ (8760 * installed DC kW)*.

With prior written notice to Georgia Power, participants may assign the agreement to a new facility owner. Failure to notify Georgia Power thirty (30) days prior to the sale of the facility may result in immediate default and termination of the agreement. Any proposed assignee of the agreement shall expressly agree to assume participant’s obligations.

Inverters should be UL1741 certified.

Georgia Power will offer 90 MWs for the small and medium program over a two (2) year period. Up to 45MWs will be contracted-for in 2013 and 45 MWs will be sourced in 2014.

Not at this time.

The customer/developer retains ownership of all RECs. Georgia Power purchases only the energy.

Each customer account is limited to a 1 MW DC nameplate capacity per address and no more than 9 MWs worth of participation within the program.

For instance: Customer X has 10 addresses each with separate account numbers and wants to develop a 1 MW facility at each site. Georgia Power will only grant Customer X the opportunity to develop 9 of those sites in 2013 since the program is capped at 9 MWs per customer for the Advanced Solar Initiative Program.

Georgia Power limits the annual participant capacity to 20% of the available annual capacity for the small and medium scale program. This equates to 9 MWs in 2013 and 9 MWs in 2014.

GPASI is designed for installations located at customer locations with solar generating capacity less than or equal to the peak demand of the customer facility.  Applications that meet these criteria will be allowed to participate under the terms and conditions of the GPASI proposal and accompanying contracts.

However, if a proposed solar installation capacity exceeds the existing site demand or the installation is a new site with no existing account (within Georgia Power territory), the solar installation may still be submitted as an application and may be allowed to participate.  Georgia Power will assess the distribution impacts and costs, as well as the interconnection costs, and all costs will be the responsibility of the applicant.

For green field sites, Georgia Power will allow participation in the program in 2013 but will re-evaluate the opportunity for participation in 2014.

Yes, a participant can be a third party owner. Participant means the counterparty to this Agreement, and includes any entity or person controlling, controlled by or under common ownership or control with Participant, including any subsidiary, related member in a limited liability company or other pass-through entity, or spouse or family member of the Participant.

The Participant will be responsible for ensuring a safe and reliable interconnection with the Company’s electric system and all costs incurred therein per the Southern Company’s “Parallel Operation of Generation on the Distribution System,” which sets forth the criteria for interconnection including system protection requirements, power quality, and operating guidelines.

Due to the high volume of inquiries at this time, Georgia Power will not be able to provide firm interconnection estimates for all projects prior to applying. Georgia Power Region Engineers may be able to provide non-binding estimated costs to interconnect at the customer site prior to submitting the application. Please be aware these high level estimates do not include detailed system studies or capacity related reviews and are subject to change. A detailed study (which includes capacity review) and firm estimate will be performed after submitted projects are approved. To begin the process of obtaining a non-binding estimate, contact Georgia Power Customer Service at 1-866-446-7513 (M-F, 8am – 5pm EST) and mention you are calling about GPASI and need an order to obtain an interconnection estimate from a local engineer.

Georgia Power will notify applicants of the small and medium scale program by April 1st that their application has been received, deemed complete, falls within limitations set for the program and if selected to expect someone to contact them to pursue execution of a PPA.

To be considered for participation, applications must be completed, including all necessary attachments, and submitted online through PowerClerk by March 11, 2013. If completed applications exceed program capacity limits (45 MW) Georgia Power will conduct a lottery with PSC oversight to ensure transparency and fairness for all applicants. Applicants will be notified by April 5th of projects selected through the lottery.

The facility has to reach commercial operation within six (6) months from Georgia Power’s Acceptance Date. If necessary, Georgia Power will conduct an interconnection study to determine if the Facility will adversely impact the electric system. The study may identify necessary system upgrades, and if applicable, Georgia Power will develop estimated costs of system upgrades needed to interconnect the Facility. Georgia Power will provide a copy of the study to Participant and will meet with Participant upon request to review these results. If there are costs resulting from the addition of the Facility to the system, the Participant is required to pay these costs before Georgia Power will interconnect the Facility to the distribution system.

The Acceptance Date is not the date the application was submitted, but the date the application is approved by Georgia Power and awarded capacity into the program.

If Georgia Power receives more than 45 MW of approved applications in 2013, a waiting list composing of 20 % of capacity (9 MW) will be established for future participation in 2013 should any of the previously awarded projects fail to meet commercial operation in a timely manner.