Editorial: Solar farms: Clean-energy proposals could result in a brighter future
Posted: Saturday, July 6, 2013 4:30 pm
It’s exciting to hear about three recent solar farm proposals – two in Yadkin County and a third in Stokes. The more we use this advanced, clean technology, the merrier for our communities, in terms of economy and health.
Wooten Farm LLC would be built in East Bend and Ashley Solar Farm LLC in Hamptonville, as Richard Craver reported recently in the Journal. The farms are comparable in terms of size; both are projected to be 5-megawatt farms and would use around 25,000 photovoltaic panels. They would be built on land leased from local owners.
And Carol Jean Solar LLC, a Nevada group, is seeking permission to build a 4-megawatt facility in Walnut Cove – Stokes County’s first such farm.
Strata Solar LLC of Chapel Hill, the company behind the Wooten Farm proposal, already runs 25 utility solar farms, including a 6.4-megawatt site in Mocksville and a 1-megawatt site in Mount Airy. Argand Energy Solutions of Charlotte runs several commercial and residential projects, including one in Asheboro. So both companies have experience in the field.
The manager of the company behind the Stokes farm proposal is Jason Ellsworth, who is also chief executive of Sunlight Partners LLC, an alternative energy company based in Mesa, Ariz.
Solar has taken off in our state, with farms in Avery, Cleveland, Davidson and Surry counties, among others. Forsyth County has yet to attract a commitment from a solar farm company. Sunlight Partners recently declined to build a solar project here, though it’s considering 19 other sites in the state.
Our state’s commitment to renewable energy – in 2007, the legislature mandated that the state's electric utilities gradually increase their annual production of renewable energy - attracts successful businesses like Apple and Google, which recently announced plans to build a second $600 million data center in Catawba County.
There’s been some dissent to this commitment in the legislature, but so far, attempts to weaken it have failed. We hope all these proposals sail through smoothly.
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