MOULTRIE, Ga. — The future looks bright for solar at three Colquitt County government facilities where solar panels have, or will be, installed as part of an effort to reduce energy costs.

Two projects, on land at Colquitt County Jail and on the roof of the courthouse annex building, have been completed and went online in March.

The third set of solar panels will be placed at Colquitt County Correctional Institution at Spence Field.

The jail and prison were selected because they are the facilities that will offer the most potential savings, County Administrator Chas Cannon said.

“The jail and the prison are open 24/7,” he said. “Those are the highest-consuming (of) energy in the county.”

Cannon expects the county’s May utility statement will provide a look at the first month those solar projects have been online.

“We’re waiting for the monthly bill,” he said. “We’re going to try to compare month to month from last year. We want to get real numbers, but we think it’s going to save a significant amount of money.”

The solar arrays are part of a project between the county and the firm ABM to reduce energy use in the county. Those efforts range from the relatively small — hall and office lights that turn off when no one is in the room — to replacing heating and cooling systems and the solar projects.

The 15-year contract, which began in 2015, is expected to save the county at least $350,000 per year.

There currently is one commercial solar farm in operation in the county, but that is expected to change in the near future.

Some dozen or more zoning requests for solar projects have been approved by Colquitt County Commission. However, those requests were made contingent on the approval of the various companies for contracts to provide solar energy to Georgia Power Co.

So far none of the companies have requested construction permits to begin installing solar panels.

For the county, the three projects completed or in the works are likely to be the last.

The jail and prison are sites with sufficient land where panels can be out of sight.

“That was part of the discussion, to have them not visible,” Cannon said.