National Cooperative Bank (NCB) has provided $82 million in financing for Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Strata Solar to develop a 94 MW portfolio of photovoltaic power projects in the state. The funding, arranged during 2013, supported 15 individual projects.
All of the electricity generated will be purchased by subsidiaries of Duke Energy. NCB says more than half of the solar projects also serve low- to moderate-income and rural communities.
‘We work very closely with local employment and economic development offices where our major projects are built, and we hire and train individuals for a secure future in solar development,’ says Markus Wilhelm, CEO, Strata Solar. ‘Our strategy is to build our utility-scale projects in regional 'clusters' so that our teams move from one job to the next, creating sustainable long-term job growth.’
