Halifax EMC installs a 98.6 kW PV System

Della Rose

The Daily Herald

August 29, 2010

Enfield, NC —

A local electric company goes green to comply with the law and hopes to educate local students at the same time.  Halifax Electric membership Corporation is going to comply with Senate Bill 3, which states electric cooperatives must meet 10 percent of their energy needs through solar power by 2018.

According to Brady Martin, manager of Marketing and Economic Development, his company is taking the first steps in meeting that compliance and they expect the ground-mount, photovoltaic solar power system to be operational sometime next month.  The system will be installed by Strata Solar LLC and it will be located on the cooperative’s property on Highway 481, beside Enfield Middle School in Enfield, within an eight and one half foot high fence.  Martin said HEMC hopes they and the school will be able to partner in using the facility in the future to teach students more about green energy production.

The system will generate about 98 kilowatt hours of electricity per hour at peak capacity, Martin said, adding the average home may use between five and 10 kilowatts per hour.  He said while it’s not a cheap way to produce energy, the goal of the law is to move toward energy independence.  He said BB&T Equipment Finance Corporation, a BB&T leasing subsidiary, is providing financial assistance for the project.  “Hopefully as more of these facilities go up the cost will move down,” Martin anticipates.  We are proud to be a part of this project which is the first of its kind in Halifax County,” says Charles Guerry, executive vice president and general manager of Halifax EMC.

Halifax EMC plans to have a ribbon cutting ceremony at the facility after the completion of construction in September.