North Carolina

Photovoltaic solar is commonly deployed now for farm operations, and landowners in North Carolina are getting $500-$1,400 per acre for utility-scale installations, compared to $27-$102 for conventional agricultural land leases.

“A proactive approach involves conducting a manufacturing supply chain analysis that would provide a roadmap for the most cost-effective ways to attract offshore wind supply chain industries.”

Microsoft Corp. has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement to be the sole off-taker for a 74-megawatt North Carolina solar farm. The project will create 500 construction jobs. 

Responsible for about 60 percent of the state’s energy generation 12 years ago, coal’s share of the electricity-generation market in North Carolina has fallen to less than 30 percent, according to the most recent government data. “We take a long-term view on carbon emissions and continue to believe we will need to drive carbon out of our system,” says a representative for Duke Energy, which serves more than a third of the state’s electricity market.