From Green Right Now Reports
Photo: SunEdison.com
Residents in Davidson County, N.C. will be getting more of their power from the sun after SunEdison activated the first phase of a 16-megawatt solar farm there.
The initial phase is comprised of 14,000 solar panels designed to produce four megawatts of generation capacity. Over six million kilowatt hours of electricity are expected in the first year of operation.
Duke Energy is buying the farm’s entire output with a 20-year contract. Over the length of the agreement, the farm is expected to generate 115 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power 10,000 average homes for a year. That production should offset more than 225 million pounds of carbon dioxide that otherwise would have been introduced into the environment by a traditional coal-burning plant.
“This first phase represents a major milestone in our overall plan to develop 16 megawatts of solar energy at this site,” said SunEdison President Carlos Domenech. “Having financed and completed this initial installation, we have mobilized resources for the next phase of the solar farm.”
The farm is one of several North American utility-scale power plants that SunEdison has financed and developed, and now operates. In all, the company lists 322 operational sites in the U.S., mostly in California and on the East Coast.
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