Morning Brief: Wisconsin’s first large-scale solar farm, Engie bringing 200-MW PV project to Indiana

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Duke Energy will build a 5-MW solar facility on a retired landfill site in Buncombe County, N.C., its first solar project on a landfill. Currently, the company has 250 MW of solar under construction (150 MW in Florida). The landfill stopped operating in 1996. Solar racking system will be built on concrete blocks instead of being anchored into the ground. Underground cabling will be kept to a minimum. Check out video footage of the site. More details in the company’s filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Source: Duke Energy

ENGIE, the electric utility company looking to bring the Emerald Green Solar Farm to eastern Howard County is holding an open house to discuss the project with the public. The proposed 2,000-acre solar farm will be built east of Greentown, south of U.S. 35 and mostly east of Duke Energy’s Greentown substation and will generate 200 MW of electricity. After the project is over, ENGIE said it will remove the solar panels and make sure the land can be used for agriculture again. Since early 2020, an organized opposition often wearing bright red shirts that read “Stop Big Solar” has attended most county commissioner meetings to voice their disapproval of the solar farm project. Source: Kokomo Tribune

It’s being called a milestone in renewable energy, at Wisconsin’s first large-scale solar-generating facility. A quarter million panels are already in place at Two Creeks Solar Park in Manitowoc County, and it’s only halfway done. The $390 million project is a partnership between Wisconsin Public Service, and Madison Gas and Electric. By the end of the year, a half-million panels are expected to be in place, and the park will be open for business. Source: Fox11

Solarize Chicagoland group-buy program bears fruit even in rough times: The program vets solar installers, negotiates a bulk rate, and provides support to participants throughout the process. As Dan Orum grilled dinner one night in early June, through an earbud in one ear he learned the ins and outs of how to get a solar installation on his home in the Chicago suburbs and collect state and federal incentives before they expire. A few days later, he had signed a contract to be part of Solarize Chicagoland, a group-buy program that has been popular in its second year, despite the pandemic’s chilling effect on the economy and the larger solar industry. Last year, the program included 124 installations for a total of 870 kW, with GRNE solar doing the installations.  Source: Energy News

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