North Carolina Rural Electric Cooperative Moves Forward with New Solar Project

EnergyUnited (EU), a rural electric cooperative headquartered in Statesville, North Carolina, signed a Power Purchase Agreement with a national 501c3 nonprofit, Finance for Impact (FFI), to install one 5MW solar project in the Township of New Hope, North Carolina.

FFI will sell the energy to EnergyUnited, allowing for:

  • increased resiliency, reliability and sustainability for the EU grid,
  •  affordable energy costs for EU members, and
  • increased adoption of cleaner energy technologies in NC.

The innovation in this project is that FFI as a nonprofit brings a turn-key solution with its affiliate nonprofit partners, ICAST, the prime contractor, and TBL Fund, the lender. Collectively, they are focused on maximizing the benefits for the low-income households in EU’s territory by attracting grant funds that could potentially provide them with utility bill credits. Another key partner is the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) who initiated this effort. EU retains the option of purchasing the solar assets.

This agreement is an important milestone,” said Thomas Golden, CEO of EnergyUnited. “We’re proud to continue adding renewables to our system as part of our effort to provide sustainable, affordable and reliable energy to our members. This project is part of the EnergyUnited Cooperative’s broader Solar Work Plan, which aims to develop 25 MW of solar energy over the next two years and a greater goal of 100 MW by 2031. We know other rural electric cooperatives all over the US are doing similar work, and we think our project and approach can serve as a strong example.”

FFI President Ravi Malhotra said “We are honored to be a partner to EU and North Carolina in their journey toward cheaper, cleaner, and more resilient energy that helps all residents, and is also focused on serving the low-income families who struggle the most with energy and climate burdens. We thank EU for partnering with us on this project and the State Dept. of Environmental Quality for selecting our partner ICAST to launch a new statewide weatherization program.”

Nick Jimenez, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said, “As federal incentives increase opportunities for community solar projects across the South, this partnership serves as a model for how climate action and affordability go hand-in-hand. We’re thrilled that this agreement advances clean energy for North Carolina families.”

North Carolina is exploring several options to enhance its electric system’s adaptive capacity during disruptive events, including deploying microgrids and modernizing existing grid assets. This project will demonstrate an approach to clean energy and energy reliability that is cost-effective and replicable for other historically underserved North Carolina electric cooperatives and throughout the US.

About the Project Partners

EnergyUnited (www.energyunited.com)EnergyUnited Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) is the largest electric cooperative in North Carolina with 141,890 member connections. Headquartered in Statesville, NC, EnergyUnited provides electric service in portions of 19 counties in west central North Carolina which include Alexander, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Stokes, Wilkes and Yadkin. Visit energyunited.com to learn more about the cooperative’s energy services and community programs.

Finance for Impact (www.financeforimpact.org): Finance for Impact is an equity investor and co-lender on clean energy projects for multifamily affordable housing properties and small utilities including RECs, municipal utilities, and Tribal utilities. Its primary investments are in microgrids, solar PV, battery energy storage systems, and heat pump HVAC and hot water systems. It focuses on innovative and equitable financing that broadens access to clean energy for underserved communities while enhancing energy affordability.

Southern Environmental Law Center (www.southernenvironment.org): The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington.

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