Rutherford Solar LLC, a project affiliate of Strata Solar LLC, applied May 14 at the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval of an unusually large, 74.8 MW (gross) solar photovoltaic project.
The commission in recent months has approved a number of solar projects, but many of them are around 5 MW in size, with a few ranging up to about 20 MW.
Rutherford Farm applied for a certificate of public convenience and necessity and a renewable energy registration for its project, to be located in Rutherford County. The company said it is a unit of Strata Solar Development LLC, which is turn is controlled by Strata Solar LLC out of Chapel Hill, N.C.
The plan is to bring this facility on-line in December 2014 and to have a power purchase agreement with Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) through its Duke Energy Carolinas subsidiary.
Attached to the application is a list of Strata Solar executives, including founder and CEO Markus Wilhelm and COO John Morrison.
“Strata Solar is a turn-key solar provider,” said the company website. “We offer project Development, Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing Solutions for any size project – from utility scale solar farms to commercial retailers and residential projects. Our end to end approach makes us highly efficient allowing us to be the most competitive solar provider in the Southeast.” The website shows the company with a number of utility-scale solar projects in the works, all of them well less than 10 MW in size.
