Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to Georgia Thursday to announce what the Biden administration has dubbed the largest community solar effort in U.S. history, enough to power 140,000 homes and businesses.
"I'm traveling to Dalton, Georgia to announce the largest investment in community solar in our nation’s history. This historic investment will create good-paying jobs and help families across the country access the benefits of solar, including lower utility bills and cleaner air," Harris tweeted Thursday. Dalton sits in Georgia's 14th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican.
Greene hosted a rally in New York City earlier this week in support of former President Donald Trump, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records linked to 2016 payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
A day before Trump's arraignment, President Biden toured a clean energy technology manufacturer outside Minneapolis.
Harris is visiting the Qcells solar panel factory outside Atlanta on Thursday. The South Korean company’s corporate parent, Hanwha Solutions Corp., said in January it would invest $2.5 billion to expand its U.S. solar manufacturing, including building another Georgia plant. Qcells projects it will supply about 30% of total U.S. solar panel demand by 2027, including making solar panel components usually manufactured outside the United States.
The deal to be announced Thursday calls for Qcells and Summit Ridge Energy of Virginia to deploy community solar projects capable of generating 1.2 gigawatts of electricity in Illinois, Maine and Maryland, senior administration officials said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The White House said the solar project is made possible through tax credits from the massive $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
White House officials touted the role of Georgia's two Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, in approving the climate law and pushing for provisions to boost solar. Those efforts are in contrast to Greene, who voted against the climate law and wants to repeal parts of it, a senior official told the AP Wednesday.
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT TO COST US $1.2 TRILLION, GOLDMAN SACHS SAYS
"The $2.5 billion expansion, which will result in 2,500 additional jobs, is the type of investment Harris and the White House are highlighting in its ‘Investing in America’ tour to promote President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda ahead of a likely 2024 re-election campaign," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act last August, calling out Republicans for voting against the legislation's tax and climate deal. Greene strongly opposed the bill over its provision to hire 87,000 new IRS employees. The act, which came amid soaring inflation, cost an estimated $739 billion, with $369 billion going toward investments in "energy security and climate change."
The clean energy plan to be unveiled Thursday will require the manufacturing of 2.5 million solar panels at Qcells' plant in Dalton – the largest community solar order in American history, officials said.
Community solar projects allow people to tap into solar power generated at a shared site rather than on individual rooftops and are a way for renters and those without access to rooftop solar panels to receive the benefits of clean energy. Community solar results in an average of 10% in annual savings for customers, the White House said.
Greene has said she is "excited to have jobs" in her district from the Qcells plant.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
