Recurrent Energy puts 71 MW-AC of solar online in North Carolina

Today Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy is holding a dedication ceremony for one of the largest solar projects east of the Mississippi: the IS-42 PV project in near Fayetteville in North Carolina.

DEPCOM Power served as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project, which comes to a whopping 71 MW-AC of solar, mounted on single-axis trackers.

IS-42 holds a long-term contract to sell power to Duke Energy Progress. Last month Recurrent entered into a deal to sell a majority interest in the project to Italy’s Falk Renewables SpA for $43 million.

This is Recurrent’s first completed project in North Carolina, which was the second-largest solar market in the United States as recently as 2015 and still holds the second-greatest installed capacity at over 3 GW. “We continue to see great potential in the state,” notes Canadian Solar CEO Dr. Shawn Qu.

North Carolina’s solar capacity is almost entirely utility-scale projects, and much of it was installed under the auspices of the Public Utilities Regulatory Power Act of 1978 (PURPA). However PURPA is being replaced with an auction system for larger solar projects, through a legislative deal between Duke Energy and the state’s solar industry.

And while Duke has stated its commitment to keeping a growing solar market in the state, it remains to be seen how the details of this auction system will work.