Solar Energy

Solar energy is an emerging market in Georgia and the Southeast. Maintaining compliance with all environmental rules and regulations is important for any industry, but especially an industry the general public is still unfamiliar with and forming an opinion of. Solar projects are often large scale and involve clearing and mass grading significant amounts of land. These projects often occur in rural areas where the local community is not accustomed to large-scale development projects.

Like any large project, solar project require significant work before ground is broken. Ecological services such as wetland delineations and state waters determinations and perhaps buffer variances are needed. NPDES Construction Stormwater permitting will be needed, and projects disturbing greater than 50 acres require pre-approval from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division before a Notice of Intent (NOI) for permit coverage can be filed. Large solar projects specifically have additional requirements on top of the extra requirements of other large projects.

Riverbend Environmental, Inc. provides ecological services related to the development of solar energy facilities. Our institutional knowledge of the rules and regulations unique to the southeast as well as our professional relationship with State Regulators allows us to successfully formulate solutions to environmental permitting and construction issues in a timely and cost-effective manner to ensure the success of every project.