US utility Georgia Power has received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) for seven solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) totalling 1,137MW through its CARES 2023 and CARES 2025 procurement programmes.
The approved projects, located across seven Georgia counties, are expected to enter commercial operation as early as 2029. The procurement under the CARES 2023 programme represents the largest single solar procurement in Georgia Power’s history, the utility said.
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The projects are based in Appling County (78MW), Decatur County (130MW), Jefferson County (194MW), Sumter County (200MW), Warren County (150MW), Emanuel County (185MW) and Irwin County (200MW).
The PPAs were approved through the CARES 2025 request for proposals (RFP), which was authorised under Georgia Power’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), alongside additional procurements under the CARES 2023 programme.
“The approval of these agreements by the Georgia PSC helps advance cost-effective renewable energy in our state and adds more than 1,100MW of renewable energy resources to our diverse generation portfolio. Renewable energy plays an important role in how we are meeting Georgia’s continued growth and expanding access to carbon-free energy for customers through the CARES subscription program,” said Wilson Mallard, director of renewable development for Georgia Power.
The latest approvals follow the approval of 1,068MW of solar projects under CARES 2023 in September 2025. Those projects included PPAs in Coffee, Jefferson, Laurens, Mitchell and Wilkinson counties.
The CARES programme was developed with the Georgia PSC to allow eligible customers to subscribe to renewable energy resources and receive a pro-rata share of the resources’ production.
The company has also opened enrolment for its CARES Customer Identified Resource (CARES CIR) programme, which allows eligible commercial and industrial customers to identify renewable energy projects for potential participation in the CARES programme.
The CARES CIR programme has been approved for up to 3GW of additional renewable energy capacity. It comprises two procurement categories: CARES CIR Utility-Scale, covering projects larger than 6MW for eligible customers with annual energy demand above 3MW; and CARES CIR Distributed Generation, covering locally sourced solar projects of 250kW to 6MW for eligible commercial and industrial (C&I) customers with annual demand between 1MW and 3MW.
Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, operates a diverse generation portfolio spanning nuclear, fossil fuels and renewables.
In April 2026, the utility sought proposals for 2,000-6,000MW of new dispatchable capacity to meet projected 2032-2033 target, including thermal generation, energy storage and solar-plus-storage resources.
Georgia Power also requested approval for around 385MW of additional solar capacity under its CARES programme, following the certification of more than 1GW of solar PPAs in 2025. The company said 32 large-load customers have committed to around 15,600MW of electric service, with 21 projects currently under construction.
Speaking to PV Tech Premium last year, Sean Garren, chief programs officer at advocacy group Vote Solar, criticised the plan’s continued reliance on fossil fuels, despite its inclusion of 4GW of new renewable capacity by 2035. Garren said the renewable additions reflected the need for clean energy to meet growing electricity demand but argued that the IRP remained heavily weighted towards fossil fuel generation.
