Duke Energy secures approval to build three solar projects in North Carolina

Duke Energy has secured regulatory approval from the North Carolina Utilities Commission to acquire and build three large solar facilities in eastern North Carolina.

The projects form a part of the company’s $500m solar expansion unveiled in September 2014, which totals 278MW of new capacity.

The three projects include 65MW Warsaw solar facility in Duplin County, 40MW Elm City solar facility in Wilson County and 23MW Fayetteville solar facility in Bladen County.

Construction on the facilities is slated to begin in early 2105 with planned completion by the year-end.

Duke Energy senior vice president for distributed energy resources Rob Caldwell said: "These projects will help provide significant amounts of cost-effective renewable energy to benefit our customers, comply with our state obligations and provide meaningful investments in the communities we serve."

Strata Solar will serve as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the Warsaw facility, which will use solar panels manufactured by First Solar.

First Solar will supply its Series-4 thin-film solar panels and serve as the EPC contractor for the Elm City facility.

Phoenix Solar will be the EPC contactor for the Bladen County project, which will use solar panels manufactured by Yingli Solar.

Duke Energy will own the three solar farms, whose output will help it comply with the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard.

The company’s solar expansion also includes purchasing power from five other new solar projects to be constructed and owned by other firms.