Atlanta Business Chronicle
One of the most highly sought-after parking lots in downtown Atlanta is being turned into a solar energy demonstration project.
Ted Turner, one of Atlanta’s most notable business and philanthropic leaders, has built-out the first phase of the “Luckie Street Solar Project” on a 2-acre parking lot he owns adjacent to his Bona Allen building.
The building houses Turner Enterprises, the Turner Foundation, Ted Turner’s penthouse (which serves as his Atlanta residence) and Ted’s Montana Grill restaurant as well as the restaurant chain’s headquarters.
“I wanted to do something solar right here in Atlanta as a demonstration project,” Turner said in an interview Dec. 6. “It is an experiment and demonstration project. When the whole thing gets done, it’s going to power the building and the restaurant.”
Walking along the parking lot, which is across Luckie Street from the Tabernacle performance venue, 14 large canopies of solar panels cover the asphalt parking lot in the first phase of the project.
The solar panels in Phase I are manufactured by First Solar, a company that Turner has been working with on another joint venture. The second phase of the project, which will have 11 canopies of solar panels, will use the technology of Atlanta-based Suniva Inc.
Turner was especially proud that he was able to install all the solar panels and not cut down any trees or even tree limbs on the site.
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Originally published in The Atlanta Business Chronicle December 10, 2010
