The US state of North Carolina is to continue blooming with new solar projects, as 64MW of new solar sites reach construction.
The multiple solar projects now under construction in the state include several to be built by solar development and finance firm, Entropy.
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The North Carolina solar sites will be supplied with 44MW of Canadian Solar CS6X-P PV modules.
Canadian Solar has executed a 44MW agreement with Entropy Investment Management and Entropy Solar Integrators. The agreement is Entropy’s second significant deal with Canadian Solar for projects scheduled to come online this year.
Lewis Reynolds, managing partner of Entropy Investment Management, said the firm is “particularly pleased” in gaining a deal at “a fair price even after the imposition of new duties on solar products”, in reference to the recent imposition of import duties by the US government on Chinese and Taiwanese products.
“Continued commitment to the US market by low cost manufacturers such as Canadian Solar, in spite of the challenges is encouraging and ultimately essential for the continued deployment of low-cost solar energy in the US,” said Reynolds.
General manager of Canadian Solar's Americas operations, Thomas Koerner, said that North Carolina's solar success story, is part of North American companies’ continued investment in sustainable development, “generating local jobs to design, construct and finance these PV projects while increasing the use of clean and renewable energies”.
Also announcing new solar construction now underway is ET Solar Energy’s US subsidiary, ET Capital and energy developer, Geenex.
The construction of a 20MW solar power plant has begun in Halifax County, North Carolina to be completed and grid connected this year.
Georg Veit, CEO of Geenex said the project was developed with support “from the County, as part of an economic development agreement, meaning we are doing much more than just building a solar farm”.
Opposite the solar site, Geenex is building a solar centre of excellence, as a local source of solar education and training, and an operations centre to bring added benefits to the community as a result of the solar development.
Approximately 100,000 modules are to be installed over 220 acres, with the power to be sold to Dominion North Carolina Power under a 15-year PPA. ET Solar and Geenex are to sell the project to utility Duke Energy once complete.
Brian Stallman, vice president of development for Duke Energy Renewables, said the company is looking forward to adding the 20MW solar power plant to its North Carolina solar portfolio.
Dennis She, president and CEO of ET Solar, said the company was hoping to develop more solar projects in North Carolina with Geenex.
The multiple projects follow a number of other solar projects also underway in North Carolina.
ET Solar is to provide modules to six other solar power plants to be constructed by FLS Energy in North Carolina this year.
Duke Energy also started construction of 30MW of solar in 2013 in the state and has the 12.5MW and 5MW Beaufort County solar plants, the 5MW Murfreesboro Solar Power project, and six 1MW solar projects already in North Carolina – and also recently approved the interconnection of an 80MW solar power plant, also in North Carolina.
Also 52MW of solar projects are to power two North Carolina universities. The projects are to be operational by 2015.
Meanwhile electronics retailer giant, Apple, has been given the go-ahead to annex land in the city of Claremont in North Carolina, in order to construct a 17.5MW solar farm, and banking giant Wells Fargo invested US$100 million of tax equity financing in nine PV projects to be built by Strata Solar.