North Carolina

Duke Energy committed $500 million to a major expansion of solar power in North Carolina. The company will acquire and construct three solar facilities - totaling 128 MW of capacity - including the largest solar PV facility east of the Mississippi River. Duke Energy also signed PPAs with five new solar projects in the state, representing 150 MW of capacity. Together, the eight projects will have a capacity of 278 MW.

Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas selected Dominion to build and operate the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 550-mile interstate natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia and into eastern North Carolina to meet the region’s rapidly growing demand for natural gas.

The Energy Department announced more than $10 million for projects to improve the reliability and resiliency of the U.S. electric grid and facilitate quick and effective response to grid conditions. This investment which includes six projects across five states- California, Hawaii, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington - will help further the deployment of advanced software that works with synchrophasor technology to better detect quickly-changing grid conditions and improve grid reliability.

Dominion acquired two stand-alone solar energy developments in southwest Tennessee, currently in late stage development by Strata Solar of Chapel Hill, N.C. All power and environmental attributes from both projects will be purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) under their renewable standard offer program. Interconnection to the electric grid will take place through facilities owned and operated by Pickwick Electric Cooperative of Selmer, TN.

Strata Solar installed nine utility-scale solar projects across North Carolina using more than $100mm of tax-equity financing provided by a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company. North Carolina utility Progress Energy Carolinas will purchase the power. The three largest projects - Bladenboro, Wagstaff and Nash 58 - all exceed six MWs in capacity and provide a boost to the local tax base without requiring additional county expenditures on sewer, roads or any other infrastructure.

SunEdison interconnected a 20-MW AC solar plant in Kern County, California. The project, known as the Adobe Solar Facility, is owned by Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy and is composed of 80,000 SunEdison Silvantis Solar PV modules. SunEdison was responsible for building the Adobe facility, and will provide asset management and 24/7 monitoring and maintenance services through its renewable operations center.