Solar Farm opens in Kings Mountain

Strata Solar officially unveiled its 28-acre solar farm in Kings Mountain on Thursday.

With nearly 22,000 photovoltaic panels, the farm is among the largest in North Carolina. Strata Solar bought, sold and is leasing the farm. It will sell the electricity produced by the panels to Duke Energy.

Kings Mountain Solar will generate enough electricity yearly to power 616 average-sized homes in the region, according to Duke Energy. The company will use the power and the renewable energy certificates created as a result to meet tightening state standards for renewable power.

The Kings Mountain solar farm, sitting in Cleveland County on Dixon Dairy Road, joins a growing list of North Carolina solar farms.

“North Carolina is a leader in solar energy, and Kings Mountain Solar demonstrates our company´s commitment to using solar energy to meet general renewable energy compliance requirements,” said Brett Carter, president of Duke Energy North Carolina. "We remain focused on delivering cost-effective renewable energy to our customers.”

Construction on the project took around 14 weeks, beginning in August and finishing up in December, said Brian Bednar. His charlotte company, Bird’s Eye Renewable Energy, worked with Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar to complete the farm.

Grading was minimal on the site and posts that hold the long rows of sunlight-catching panels were driven into the ground without footings.

That means once the farm is no longer in use, it will be simple for the land to revert to pasture land, Bednar said.

The no-emission, no-noise solar farm will offset approximately 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide, equal to reducing automobile travel by 2.8 million miles, according to Strata Solar.

The company also cites more than $250,000 spent in Cleveland County for wages, lodging and supplies for the solar farm. And officials say the solar farm will increase the county’s property tax base by around $20 million with no requirements for additional sewer lines, roads or other county services.