Solar Power and Energy Policy

 1. Exploratory

The article/video talk about Georgia, and the power plant project implemented in the state. It is called Silicon Ranch Hazlehurst 2 project on Georgia Farm. Being the largest solar panel assembly plant in the Western hemisphere, being a 150 million investment.

2. Diagnostic

This occurred, since there are a lot of powerful market forces at work. In Georgia there is a company thats providing Facebooks access to solar is Walton EMC, an electric cooperative based outside Monroe, GA. The reason these solar panels were basically built is for the Facebook solar market.

3. Cause and Effect

What this project has caused is for other states t see the positive effects of solar panels. In other words they are cheap and because Georgia has a lot of sun its easier to get more energy from it. Also renewable energy makes up a tiny project, but with more solar projects coming into the mix renewable energy will jump.

4. Priority

I feel like the most important issue to look at when I was reading the article and watching the video is that the solar panels were only put up for a business project, and not because people care about climate change. A lot of land is needed for solar farms big enough to power a Facebook data center. Which is what the solar project was mainly about, a company providing Facebook access to solar energy. 

5. Application

This project could relate to relationships in life, because I noticed how different companies were using each other to benefit from one another. One example is of a man and his land got bought from him so it could be used for the solar panels project. The land had been in his family for many years, but he did it for the money and he even said that if it would have been to build a “coal mine” he would have still sold his family land. Which comes to show that the people were only doing it for the benefit of money or business with other companies.

6. Critical

This got me thinking about how companies works, and how business is made. Although there wasn't much talk about climate change, solar panels are a renewable source of energy, so it at least made an impact for other states that want to help with climate change. This project did indeed bring more revenue where the poverty rate was low, meaning it provided jobs for unemployed people.


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