A Raleigh green energy startup has signed its first commercial contract to build a facility that will turn 120 tons of food scraps a day into electricity.

Orbit Energy, founded in 2004, said this week it signed a 15-year agreement to sell renewable electricity to National Grid, a power company in New England.

Orbit CEO Anwar Shareef said his company has plans for 15 similar facilities across the country, including one in North Carolina scheduled for construction later this year.

The company is negotiating a power purchase agreement with Duke Energy for a 4.8 megawatt plant near Charlotte, Shareef said. The project was approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission last year but still requires an air emissions permit from state environmental regulators.