City kicks off effort to add solar panels to municipal buildings

The rooftops of nearly 30 Atlanta fire stations, rec centers, and other public buildings will soon sport solar panels. 
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?Mayor Kasim Reed on Nov. 23 unveiled the city’s first solar power initiative, Solar Atlanta, which aims to install those big sun-thirsty panels on top of 28 municipal buildings in coming months.
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?“Soon some of the recreation centers, fire stations in your neighborhoods will be getting as much as 40 percent of their power needs from a safe, sustainable and renewable source,” he said.
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?The effort will add two megawatts to Georgia’s growing solar portfolio and is projected to reduce the city’s carbon footprint, save on its utility bills, and conserve water that’s otherwise swallowed by power plants to create electricity. According to the city, the initiative will reduce the city’s carbon dioxide emissions by 73 million pounds and save 216 million gallons of water through the year 2030. 
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?Reed says he thinks Atlanta taxpayers will also reap “immediate benefits.” Thanks to the a new law signed by Gov. Nathan Deal in July, Reed said, the city can contract the installation of solar hardware with no upfront costs. The developer chosen will own and manage the solar panels while the city pays a fixed rate for the generated electricity. The city will also claim a 30 percent federal tax credit for the solar investment. But Atlanta needs Congress to extend the tax break before it expires next year.
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?“I hope that our representatives in Congress will recognize the importance of our solar investment tax credit and extend it… so the solar market in Georgia and across the country will continue to thrive,” Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, Reed’s director of sustainability, said.