SunEdison LLC has bought a 356.7-acre site in Linwood and started grading on what is expected to be the country's largest photovoltaic solar farm.
The Davidson County Economic Development Commission said yesterday that the Golden Crescent Farms site off New Jersey Church Road near N.C. 47 was chosen out of three possible sites in the county. The company had taken an option on the site earlier this year.
SunEdison, the largest solar-energy company in North America, plans to spend $173 million on constructing the farm. Besides 80 construction jobs associated with the farm, the company plans to have three employees.
The announcement comes 15 months after Duke Energy Corp. said that it had signed agreements with Sun Edison to buy the entire output of the solar farm for 20 years. Production is expected to begin by December 2010. Matthew Dickey, a spokesman for SunEdison, said that the company plans to be at 20 percent of energy production by year's end.
"This brings to a conclusion a broad and lengthy search for a site that covered a large part of North Carolina and South Carolina," said Steve Googe, the executive director of the Davidson County Economic Development Commission. "We are extremely pleased to have this project site in Davidson County. With this project, our community gets a wide green brush stroke and an opportunity to attract other green-focused companies.
"With unemployment at 13.2 percent, the construction jobs and full-time jobs will benefit our citizens in the region."
Googe said that SunEdison declined to select a site related to a proposed 2,400-acre megasite off Interstate 85 near Lexington. That site specifically was eligible for grading assistance in the form of $2 million in incentives that had been approved by the Davidson commissioners. The company is eligible for a property tax exemption passed in 2008 for such equipment.
Dickey said the issue of incentives has not been settled with the commissioners.
The farm will produce 18 megawatts of energy, with Duke customers getting 16.1 megawatts. That is enough power for 2,647 homes for one year. Some of the energy produced by the solar farm would be lost during the transfer process.
Dickey said the land will be divided into 31 tracts. Legislators and energy experts have pointed to a 2007 state energy law as critical in attracting SunEdison to North Carolina. According to the law, public utilities must have the equivalent of 3 percent of their retail sales come from renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2012. That jumps to 6 percent in 2015, 10 percent in 2017 and 12.5 percent in 2021.
SunEdison will buy and install the solar equipment at no cost to Duke Energy.
More power companies are considering solar energy and other types of renewable energy, said Monique Hanis, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Other states have made similar renewable-energy requirements, she said. Having an agreement such as the one Duke Energy has with SunEdison is a way to help power companies manage their energy costs, Hanis said.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
■ Journal reporter Michael Hewlett contributed to this story.
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