Software developer SAS continues expanding its solar energy production at its Cary campus, where the company already has the largest solar complex in the Triangle.
The company this week notified the N.C. Utilities Commission it plans to add another 168.48 kilowatts of solar power on a building rooftop. The $822,000 project is expected to be selling electricity to Progress Energy in August and will bring SAS's solar capacity to 2.45 megawatts.
SAS has two large ground-level solar farms located on campus that are tended by sheep trucked in to graze on the grass. The company also has a rooftop solar array and three solar thermal projects that produce heated water.
The company has been able to build out its solar complex to over 11,000 panels in the past several years thanks to generous state and federal tax credits as well as incentives offered by Progress Energy that together cover more than two-thirds of the price of the projects.
The state's biggest solar farm, in Davidson County, generates 15.5 megawatts. And several are in development that will generate 4.5 megawatts.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or
Comments
arrrrrr!
Thu, 07/21/2011 - 13:07 — IonlyTrustOmnivoresR: still free, with better graphical output! All that and Python modules too! Sorry, SAS, I analyize with the pirates. Arrrrrrr!