Many companies want clean energy. Georgia Power will soon allow them to build it.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and He wasAtlanta’s NPR station.

Many corporations have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but when it comes to energy production, they struggle to meet those goals because they have to get power from the grid. Subsidies and regulations determine how the energy is produced, and most still use fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas along with renewable energy sources.

Now, Georgia’s largest utility, Georgia Power, is launching a new Customer-Identified Resource program that aims to change that by allowing companies to submit their own proposals and pay their own electricity bills. It passed with bipartisan support from state officials on April 7, and is expected to open by this summer.

“It provides an opportunity for the first time for these customers to identify and bring service to Georgia Power,” said Priya Barua, director of Utility Partnerships and Innovation at the Corporate Energy Buyers Association, or CEBA. He worked closely with sponsors and other stakeholders to develop the new strategy.

Companies with emission reduction goals, such as CEBA members, are often interested in developing their own clean energy projects to meet climate goals. For example, Meta they built solar farms in Georgia to help strengthen its data center at Social Circle. But the complex gets additional power from electric companies, not Georgia Power.

Before this new program, there was no way for Georgia Power customers to bring similar projects to the group. Instead, Hyundai bought the powertrain from solar farms in Texas to reduce energy consumption at its plant near Savannah. Under the new program, Georgia Power customers will be able to develop clean energy projects in the state. They can choose to fund energy production that is not selected during normal business hours, or create their own.

“This program allows many customers to bring a project together, which really opens up the program to small and medium commercial and industrial customers,” said Barua.

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Supporters hope the program can become a model for other programs across the country. Georgia is already ranked eighth in the country for solar energy, according to a Solar Energy Industries Associationbut supporters of renewable energy have argued that the government can increase solar power too quickly. The controversy has grown in recent years as has Georgia Power he asked for and received approval for more money releasing new energy to meet the needs that users expect to see, especially from a data center. The agency is planning to produce more new energy from natural gas. Environmentalists and consumers have argued that some or all of these expectations can be met with renewable and sustainable alternatives.

The program, Barua said, can support the new demand that the service is predicting.

“It’s only accelerating clean energy projects coming to the system, which will negate the demand for natural gas and other types of renewable energy,” he said.