CARY -- The town and a private partner are planning a solar energy project that could rank among the largest in the state.
If the Cary Town Council and Progress Energy approve a staff proposal, the town would rent two sites to a private green energy company that would install and maintain photovoltaic arrays.
"We have some very small-scale solar power collectors (on town property), but this is the first large-scale project of this type that we've done," said Stephen Brown, the town's director of public works and utilities.
The council may consider the plan at its meeting today.
During the plan's first phase, Cary staff recommended that the town allow Asheville-based FLS Energy to install and maintain two solar arrays covering several acres. The project would have a total capacity of 2.3 megawatts of power and produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 217 homes, according to the town.
If the first part of the plan is successful, town staff will recommend that Cary consider allowing solar array installations at an operations center on James Jackson Avenue and at two water reclamation facilities.
The town says the project would pose no financial risk to Cary. FLS Energy would be solely responsible for the panels, and the company would pay Cary about $45,000 per year for use of the land.
The company would sell power from the panels to Progress Energy, which is paying subsidized rates for solar and wind power as it tries to reach a state requirement that investor-owned power companies draw 12.5 percent of their electricity from renewable resources and energy efficiency programs by 2021.
FLS declined to disclose how much annual revenue the panels would produce. Two out-of-state companies bid for the project, offering similar rent rates to the town, but town staff favored FLS because of its experience with similar projects, including a parking deck solar array in Raleigh.
Because of the renewable energy law, passed in 2007, "We have a seen a huge increase in the number of renewable energy projects on the ground," said Diane Cherry, manager of policy initiatives for the Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State University. "It's like a market driver."
Private companies already have installed several solar power projects in western Wake County, including arrays totaling 2.4 megawatts on the SAS campus, a 250-kilowatt setup atop a Cary Food Lion and a 250-kilowatt rooftop installation at the OFM furniture company in Holly Springs.
The state and federal governments offer tax subsidies that offset the cost of installing solar panels by more than half. But Cary can't collect those benefits and for that reason has sought a private partner to install the electricity production system.
In total, North Carolina's solar facilities put out a maximum of about 60 megawatts - a minuscule figure next to the state's total electricity production capacity of almost 28,000 megawatts.
The proposed Cary solar arrays would increase Progress's statewide solar portfolio by about 25 percent and the state's total solar capacity by almost 4 percent compared to today.
"Two megawatts, in terms of solar arrays, is a very big project," said Scott Sutton, a Progress Energy spokesman.
The state's biggest solar farm is 15.5 megawatts in Davidson County. A Florida developer is considering North Carolina and several states for construction of a 400-megawatt solar farm, which would be the world's biggest.
The proposed Cary arrays eventually could become town property. Cary's contract with FLS would allow the town to buy the solar equipment at a reduced cost after 20 years.
