Strata files plan for big solar farm

John Murawski

News and Observer

Staff Writer

April 21, 2011

A Chapel Hill solar developer is proposing a major solar farm in Western North Carolina.  Strata Solar wants to build a 4.5 megawatt solar farm in Kings Mountain, according to an application filed Wednesday to the N.C.  Utilities Commission. Building the project, 200 miles west of Raleigh, will cost nearly $22 million and require 22,000 solar panels.  If approved by the Utilities Commission, it would be the second largest solar farm in the state, after 15.5 megawatt project in Davidson County that feeds into Duke Energy's power grid.

The biggest solar farm in the triangle is a 2.2 megawatt project on the Cary campus of software developer SAS.  Strata plans to sell the power it generates to Duke Energy under a ten year contract, the filing says. The solar farm is expected to begin generating electricity in December. Duke Energy, Progress Energy, and other electric utilities are required to buy electricity from solar farms and other renewable energy producers under a 2007 state law mandating in green energy and conservation.