Eight new PV plants — totaling 67.3MW of capacity — have been added to North Carolina’s energy portfolio, boasting the “Tar Heel State’s” overall capacity to 103.5MW for the partnership between Sol Systems, National Cooperative Bank (NCB) and Strata Solar.
Dan Yonkin, tax equity director with Sol Systems, said: “North Carolina has been an especially attractive market for tax equity investors in the solar asset class. They've been a driving force of growth making the Tar Heel state a national leader in skyrocketing the solar energy market.”
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North Carolina rose up the ranks of solar states in the US, placing second in the country with 397MW installed in 2014. Currently, the state has 1,011MW of PV energy installed, placing it fourth in the US and 11th nationwide in solar jobs per capita, with 5,600 solar workers.
The portfolio is made up of projects across eight communities in North Carolina — Godwin, Grover, Lumber Bridge, Maxton, Oakboro, Roseboro, Salisbury and West End.
All of the installations should be operational by July and August 2015, and are expected to generate enough energy to power 9,714 homes for one year.
Matthew Wright, senior vice president at NCB, said: “National Cooperative Bank has had a great track record of financing solar projects in North Carolina. To date, NCB has funded 266MW consisting of 44 projects/term loans totaling US$126 million and 14 bridge loans totaling US$51 million in North Carolina alone. Our collaboration with Strata Solar and Sol Systems has been very positive, and we look forward to working together on future transactions.”
