Independent power producer Silicon Ranch and Green Power EMC, the renewable energy supplier for 38 Georgia electric membership cooperatives (EMCs), are celebrating the completion of the 106 MW AC Clay Solar Project at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga. The energy generated by the project is shared by 30 EMCs from across the state.
Silicon Ranch selected IEA as the EPC contractor, which hired more than 400 workers to construct the project, with preference given to the local labor pool and the military veteran community.
When the project in Clay County was first announced in 2018, White Oak Pastures owner Will Harris invited Silicon Ranch to visit Bluffton. Harris introduced Silicon Ranch leadership to the methods of planned livestock grazing and regenerative agricultural practices that his family had been deploying at White Oak Pastures for more than two decades. The result was a new partnership and an innovative model for the solar industry that Silicon Ranch calls Regenerative Energy, its holistic approach to project design, construction, and land management that is now deployed across thousands of acres it owns and manages across the country.
The Clay Solar Project is the ninth utility-scale solar project to reach operational status for Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch. Collectively, the partners’ portfolio generates more than 550 MW AC of energy. Last year, they announced an additional collaboration to develop three more projects, totaling an additional 252 MW AC, online by the end of 2024.