Southern’s Ratcliffe signs solar deal with Ted Turner - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

The Atlanta Business Chronicle announced a significant development in the solar energy industry.
The creation of such large-scale solar power plants can bring many benefits: they aim towards independence from foreign energy sources, they provide local jobs during the plant's production and maintenance, and they allow us to create energy in a sustainable way.

To the professionals involved in the solar industry, the sustainability industry, and the built environment, and to informed and concerned citizens (I fall within several of those categories), it's disappointing that Georgia has yet to emerge as a hotbed for solar power activity. As a Sunbelt state that routinely welcomes transplants who enjoy its favorable climate, Georgia would seem to be an ideal place to locate large-scale solar plants.

So what's missing?

Not the sun. Contrary to some opinions, the Southeast US has plenty of sun to support solar energy production.

Not the economics. Georgia certainly could use the economic development in a time when the state faces more than 10% unemployment.

Not the manufacturers. Georgia has recently attracted a number of solar firms to the area. Georgia Tech startup Suniva is expanding its production; Enfinity has recently announced its headquarters relocation to Atlanta; and MiaSole is planning a large thin-film solar plant in Griffin, Georgia.

However, Georgia does have some obstacles to overcome before we'll see any development of this kind, and they appear to be legal, political, and educational in nature.
One key component of the ABC's announcement is the 25-year power purchase agreement. I don't claim I am an expert on the subject, but I do know that Georgia does not allow such agreements.
And without a buyer for the generated solar power, the deals are dead on the vine.

So, no matter how much sun we have, or or how good it would be for the local economy, or how readily available the materials are, large scale solar power developments are not an option in the current legal and politial climate.
Want to know more? Maybe our legislators can tell us.