solar power 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

Sep 5, 2018

Trump Administration Continues to Ease Regulations on Coal Plants

On Wednesday, August 29th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was reconsidering an Obama-era rule on emissions of mercury from coal-fired plants. The 2011 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”) rule requires certain power plants to reduce mercury emissions. 81 Fed. Reg. 20172 (April 6, 2016). According to the U.S. EPA, “[i]n 2000, after years of study, EPA issued a scientific and legal determination that it was ‘appropriate and necessary’ to control mercury emissions from power plants.” Click here to read the full article. (last visited 9/4/2018). MATS is viewed as accelerating the shut-down of coal-fired power plants. Other factors… Read more

Dec 4, 2017

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Solar Power Dispute

The Supreme Court of the United States announced on Friday, December 1 that it would hear an Arizona utility’s appeal of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision[1] ruling that a rooftop solar company’s antitrust lawsuit against the utility may move forward. SolarCity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesla Motors, sued Salt River Project, a utility regulated by Arizona, over the utility’s 2015 decision to charge a fee for solar power systems operated by individuals, many of which are installed by SolarCity. In the lawsuit, SolarCity claimed that these fees were implemented to make rooftop solar systems too expensive to… Read more

Mar 27, 2015

Georgia Legislature First in Southeast to Authorize Third-Party Financing of Onsite Solar Power Facilities

Last Friday, the Georgia Senate unanimously approved HB 57, the Georgia Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015. Sponsored by Representative Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, the Act now moves to the desk of Governor Nathan Deal for signature. SGR’s Steve O’Day has worked with diverse groups in drafting, negotiating and supporting solar free-market financing legislation for six years. His work with Jason Rooks of the Georgia Solar Energy Industries Association and lawyers for Georgia Power Company and Georgia’s 51 Electric Membership Cooperatives and 49 municipal electric authorities in negotiating the language of many of the law’s provisions was instrumental in… Read more

May 15, 2014

NY Governor Cuomo Announces $60M State Funding for Nonresidential Solar Energy Projects

On May 13, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the availability of $60 million in state funding for the installation of solar energy at nonresidential sites in New York. The announcement is the third round of the NY-Sun Competitive PV Program administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The funding is focused on businesses, industries, and institutions that are large energy users. The state funding is intended to leverage private investment in new solar power projects. For more information on the New York solar program, or on development, construction or operation of solar projects generally,… Read more