Aug 21 2014
Three new North Carolina utility-scale solar farms have begun producing power, racking up another 18.2 MW, equal to taking about 2,400 passenger vehicles off the road for the year. A significant portion of the investment responsible for the projects was managed by Washington, D.C.–based solar investment and financing firm, Sol Systems.
Three new utility-scale solar farms have begun producing power as part of the first half of a $100M solar investment managed by Sol Systems. Strata Solar developed the project opportunities and National Cooperative Bank served as the lender.
"Tax structured investments have been critical to driving capital into the solar asset class," commented Yuri Horwitz, CEO of Sol Systems. "North Carolina is an especially attractive market, and we will deploy tax equity into another 18 to 20 MW before the end of the year," he added.
Projects of this size are highly complex and require capital and expertise from multiple sources. Sol Systems managed the investment on behalf of an insurance client as part of the firm's tax equity initiative to produce secure, sustainable solar investments for banks, insurance companies, utilities, and Fortune 100 clients. Strata Solar developed the project opportunities, and National Cooperative Bank served as the lender in the transactions.
"Strata Solar continues to lead the North Carolina market in solar deployment," said David Scoglio, Strata Solar CFO. "We have been fortunate to work with several strong partners in the tax aggregate space to help us continue to grow the solar footprint across the state."
"National Cooperative Bank has a strong commitment to the solar industry, and we look forward to working with Strata Solar and Sol Systems on future transactions," said Matthew Wright, Senior Vice President, National Cooperative Bank.
This is the first half of a the investment that the partners will channel into the North Carolina solar market, which now ranks fourth in the country having installed 592 MW of solar electric capacity according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The three new arrays will displace about 16,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, about the same as providing electricity for 2,300 homes for one year. The farms, located in Laurinburg, Clarkton, and Spring Hope, are home to 60,436 solar panels and are projected to produce 30 million kilowatt hours annually.