Southern Rivers Energy (SRE) has reached an agreement to receive energy from new solar generating facilities planned across four locations in south-ern Georgia that will bring an additional 200-megawatt (MW) solar generating power to the state. The facilities will be built by Silicon Ranch of Nashville, Tenn., in partnership with Green Power EMC, the renewable- energy supplier for 38 Georgia electric membership corpora-tions (EMCs). They are expected

to begin operating by 2020 and will provide enough low-cost, renewable power to help serve more than 35,000 EMC house-holds annually.

The four solar projects will be developed, funded and con-structed by Silicon Ranch, which will also own, operate and main-tain the arrays throughout the life cycle of each facility. Green Power EMC will purchase all the energy and environmental attri-butes generated by the facilities

on behalf of its member EMCs.The 200 MW portfolio is the latest in a series of projects built in a partnership between Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch. The pair commissioned a 20 MW solar plant in Jeff Davis County, near Hazlehurst, in 2015 and recently dedicated a 52 MW plant, also near Hazlehurst. More than 30 EMCs share in the output generated by those two operating facilities.

SRE President/CEO Michael

CurrentComments

September 2017 southernriversenergy.com GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Southern Rivers Energy to Receive Power from New Georgia Solar Facilities Four New Facilities Will Help Serve 35,000 EMC Households Annually

[continued on page 30D]

Bright Ideas Application Deadline: Sept. 1

Teachers, apply at southernriversenergy.com by midnight on Sept. 1 for a chance to receive up to $1,000 to fund your creative lesson plan.

Dates to Remember:

Labor Day: Sept. 4— Southern Rivers Energy will be closed. To report an outage, call 1-866-244-4890.SRE Trust Board Meeting: Sept. 13 Barnesville Buggy Days: Sept. 15-17 Visit Barnesville.org for a complete list of events.

30B togetherwesave.com GEORGIA MAGAZINE

SRE Uses Drones to Assist with Field Maintenance and Other OperationsDrones are more properly known as unmanned ae-rial vehicles, or UAVs, and are either autonomous or remotely piloted (RPV). Autonomous models follow a preprogrammed flight plan, whereas a licensed pilot flies the RPV from a remote location. This remote location can be half a world away in mili-tary applications. For commercial use, significantly shorter distances are involved. Regardless of oper-ation type, modern drones are either fixed-wing or rotary models.

As with all technology Southern Rivers Energy inves-tigates and uses, drones will help reduce operating costs and increase reliability. These amazing craft have significant potential to do both. But how can your co-op use a drone? Assessing storm damage springs to mind. A helicopter or air-plane could be used, but they are likely to be ground-ed for some time following the storm for pilot and crew safety. Co-op crews are in the field as soon as possible, often in the midst of the storm. Also, these helicopters or planes are very expensive to operate.

So, with ground access frequently blocked bydebris or flooding, getting a comprehensive assessment of damage is both time-consuming and dangerous. Flying a drone over the area can capture detailed images and help the co-op dispatch the right crews with the right materials to the right location. This kind of intelligence gets members’ lights back on faster.

Drones programmed to fly over far-flung transmis-sion and distribution lines using the co-op’s mapping data, can video the route and return with an assess-ment of potential tree or vegetation problems. By integrating GPS data, the exact areas needing atten-tion are pinpointed and crews are then dispatched to correct the issues. This eliminates a lot of time and expense patrolling lengthy rights of way.

Anticipating privacy concerns, drones will be pro-grammed to fly specific routes. They won’t be looking at meters or the service wires from the pole to homes and businesses. Most video and other photographic data will never be seen by a human operator. It is

Southern Rivers Energy ‘s Energy Services Specialist

Josh Hendricks with SRE’s drone.

September 2017 southernriversenergy.com GEORGIA MAGAZINE

simply too time-consuming, especially when the co-op is restoring power after an outage. Software will analyze the imagery and identify potential problem areas for additional human interpretation.

Further applications include equipping the drone with an infrared (IR) camera to search for hot spots on power lines or inside substations. Manyco-ops use handheld IR devices for just such pur-poses today. With a drone, they could cover far more area at a much lower cost. Problems could be solved before your service is interrupted.

However, getting a drone in the air is not a trivial matter. The co-op needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a drone and the pilot has to be FAA licensed, backed by dedi-cated and certified ground support. This will keep

drones out of regular airspace and away from sensi-tive areas. If you notice SRE’s drone in your neigh-borhood, don’t be alarmed. Just take a look around and you’ll see our operator and one of our trucks close by. You can rest assured we are either assessing a problem or trying to prevent one.

It can be an exciting and exhausting time, the culmination of a season of hard work. How-ever, the rush to harvest can also yield tragic outcomes. Each year, dozens of farmworkers are killed and hundreds more are injured in accidents involving power lines and electrical equipment.

“Things people see every day can fade from view and in the busy-ness of harvest time, it’s easy for farmworkers to forget about the power lines overhead,” says Richard McCracken of the Safe Electricity Advisory Board. “But failure to notice them can be a deadly oversight.” Review with all workers the farm activities that take place around power lines. Inspect the height of farm equipment to determine clearance. Keep equip-ment at least 10 feet from power lines—above, below and to the side—a 360-degree rule.

“Always lower grain augers before moving them, even if it’s only a few feet,” says Bob Aherin, University of Illinois professor and Agricultural Safety and Health Program leader. “Variables like wind, uneven ground, shifting weight or

Farmworkers should take these steps to ensure a safer harvest season:

• Use care when raising augers or the bed of grain trucks around power lines. • Use a spotter when operating large machinery near power lines. Do not let the spotter touch the machinery while it is being moved any- where near power lines. • Be careful not to raise any equipment such as ladders, poles or rods into power lines. Remember, non-metallic materials such as lumber, tree limbs, ropes and hay will conduct electricity depending on dam- pness, dust and dirt contamination.• Never attempt to raise or move a power line to clear a path! • Don’t use metal poles to break up bridged grain inside bins. Know where and how to shut off the power in an emergency.• Use qualified electricians for work on drying equipment and other farm electrical systems.

Harvest Workers Urged to Take Time to Reap Safe Harvest

[continued on page 30D]

Photo by Jeff Cook, Taylor/Peach County Extension Coordinator

Official publication ofSouthern Rivers Energy

P.O. Box 40Barnesville, GA 30204

www.southernriversenergy.com

Erin Cook, EditorKathryn Claxton, Designer

BOARD OF DIRECTORSJohn W. Dumas, Chairman

Stephen Goodman, Vice ChairmanHarry Park, Secretary

Millie Alexander, TreasurerRalph Nix

Brian OgletreeJohn Pope

Nedam Walker

STAFFMichael J. McMillan,

President/CEO

Charles J. Lowery, CPAVice President of

Finance and Administration

Ernest H. Neubauer, P.E.,Vice President of

Engineering and Operations

Erin Cook, CCCDirector of Marketing/Member Services

Patricia BeckerCustomer Service Supervisor

Donald Jones, Construction & Maintenance

Superintendent

OUTAGE HOTLINE1-866-244-4890

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OFFICE HOURSMonday through Friday

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other conditions can combine to create an unexpected result. Also, use extreme caution when raising the bed of a grain truck.”

Operators of farm equipment or vehicles must also know what to do if the vehicle touches a power line: Stay on the equipment, warn others to stay away and call 911. Do not get off the equipment until the utility crew says it is safe to do so.

“If the power line is energized and you step outside, touching the vehicle

and ground, your body becomes the path and electrocution is the result,” Aherin says. “Even if a power line has landed on the ground, the potential for the area nearby to be energized still exists. Stay inside the vehicle unless there’s fire or imminent risk of fire.”

If this is the case, jump off the equip-ment with your feet together, without touching the ground and vehicle at the same time. Then, still keeping your feet together, hop to safety as you leave the area. n

[Harvest continued from page 30C]

[Solar Project continued from page 30A]

JEFF

COO

K

McMillan says Southern Rivers Energy’s participation in theseplanned solar projects shows the cooperative’s commitment to alterna-tive energy sources as part of a diverse power generating portfolio.

“Georgia is a leader in solar power production, and Southern Rivers Energy is pleased to take part in these new solar projects that will help meet the overall needs of our consumer-

members as a reliable and economical source of power,” says McMillan.

SRE will purchase 2 MW of solar power, enough to power 350 homes annually, adding a significant amount of renewable energy to the co-op’s already diverse power supply portfo-lio. To learn more about Green Power EMC and its renewable energy proj-ects, visit greenpoweremc.com. n