Here is some welcomed news for advocates of solar energy. Ted Turner, founder of CNN and long-time environmentalist, is partnering with the Southern Company to build and buy big solar plants in the western US.
Southern Co. is the second largest U.S. utility (by market cap) and best known to rely on coal as its primary energy source.
Recently, Turner’s companies and Southern have teamed up to jointly purchase five solar power facilities making Southern Company one of the largest utility owners of solar energy in the US.
Around the U.S. the joint initiative owns the 2.5 MW Granville Solar Facility in North Carolina; the 20 MW Apex Solar Facility and 30 MW Spectrum Solar Facility, both in Clark County, Nevada; the 30 MW Cimarron Solar Plant in New Mexico and their most recent, biggest buy, the 139 MW Campo Verde Solar Project in California.
The joint venture seems be a perfect match in the business of energy.
Turner Renewable Energy has an installation business and wants to get involved in utility-scale solar farms. Southern brings financing and a combination of knowledge of the utility industry and technical expertise in operating large-scale power plants.
Southern’s new initiatives/ventures into solar energy diversifies its overall energy portfolio, and answers its critics that the company is not serious about tapping renewable sources of energy.
By Pat Byington, The Green Register