The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy mapped out scenarios for Georgia Power's parent company to switch to renewable power sources by 2035.

Polk County will soon have a third solar farm in operation

A new report finds Georgia Power could move away from fossil fuels with a combination of solar, wind, other renewables and energy efficiency programs.

A new report finds that if Georgia Power wants to meet the Biden administration’s clean energy goals, the utility needs to act quickly.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, or SACE, studied what needs to happen in the Southeast to reach President Biden’s goal of moving to renewable energy by 2035.

They found that it’s doable. To make up for coal and gas, Georgia Power and its fellow utilities under Southern Company would have to expand solar and wind, as well as energy efficiency programs, starting now.

a graph showing one way Southern Company could switch to renewable energy

One path laid out by SACE would rely on large-scale renewables, like wind turbines and big solar farms, as well as improving energy efficiency and adding more rooftop solar.

Credit: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Maggie Shober of SACE said the changes would require investment, but doing nothing is already expensive.

“I mean, there’s hundreds of billions of dollars already that’s being spent because of extreme weather and because of these impacts of climate change,” she said.

The scenarios in the report call not just for more large solar farms, but also more rooftop solar, something the utility has been slower to get behind.

The goal of switching to renewable energy by a certain date, known as a "clean energy standard," has been adopted by several cities in Georgia but not at the state or federal level. SACE is pushing for a federal standard.

Tags: Georgia  Georgia Power  clean energy  renewable energy  Solar energy  climate change  Atlanta  Macon  Savannah