Sept 5 (Reuters) - Utility Southern Co's unit

Georgia Power ( GPJA ) said on Friday it had received approval from the

Georgia Public Service Commission for five new solar site power

purchase agreements totaling 1,068 megawatts (MW).

The new facilities support the company's Clean and Renewable

Energy Subscription (CARES) 2023 program, allowing commercial

and industrial customers to subscribe to renewable energy to

enhance sustainability efforts.

The approved projects will be constructed and maintained by

third-party companies that won bids in the CARES 2023 Request

for Proposal (RFP), which was approved in the 2022 Integrated

Resource Plan (IRP) Final Order.

The five solar facilities will be located across Georgia,

including Mitchell County, Coffee County, Wilkinson County,

Jefferson County and Laurens County.

Georgia Power ( GPJA ) said the CARES 2025 RFP, also approved in the

2022 IRP Final Order, was recently issued with bids due in

August. The request seeks utility-scale solar or

solar-plus-storage proposals to meet a target of up to 2,000 MW

of utility-scale solar.

These utility-scale solar projects are expected to be fully

operational as early as 2028, the company added.