The Athens-Clarke County Utilities Department may be able to save energy by installing solar panels.
Online Athens is reporting that the ACC Utilities Department conducted an analysis that said, using solar energy would offset 43 percent of the energy used by the Cedar Creek wastewater treatment plant.
Currently, the three wastewater treatment plants and one purifying water facility at Cedar Creek, use three times more electricity than all other ACC facilities combined.
The Department has asked the ACC Commission to approve almost a $1 million dollars for the solar project at Cedar Creek.
But new federal tariffs of 30 percent state could downsize this solar energy proposal. Right now, the facility is proposed to be 4 to 5 acres in size, with solar panels to be put down on land that has already been cleared.
The solar panels would produce 1.2 gigawatts of energy in the first year, according to the proposal.