Southeastern North Carolina is becoming a rich area for emerging and diversified energy companies. Examples of alternative energy development include bio-fuels – the state’s first large-scale ethanol production facility will be operational in early 2010 – bio-mass and animal waste regeneration; solar panel and wind turbine component manufacturing; and solar panel fields. DuPont is investing in a new plant to make tedlar, a film backing for solar panels, and GE is underway with nuclear energy research and development and component manufacturing. Initial research into wind energy development off the coast of North Carolina is also underway. 

FOR POWER PRODUCERS

NC requires renewable energy sources.  NC is one of just a few states in the US that has a legislative renewable energy mandate.  The NC Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS) requires that NC utilities must have a percentage of their retail sales come from renewable energy sources by specific dates – up to 12.5% by 2021. 

NC’s Southeast has the resources to fuel these needs, including a substantial existing biomass supply structure, one of the largest volumes of swine and chicken waste in the US, some of the best wind volumes in NC and ample solar and hydro potential.  The Region is fast becoming the center of renewable energy production in NC because of our significant physical resources.  Already, the Region is home to several renewable power producers.

FOR MANUFACTURERS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTS

The Southeast Region is home to a number of existing industries focused on the development of future renewable energy technologies.

The renewable energy mandate in NC gives local companies a ready-made marketplace for cutting edge energy technology commercialization.

Wind

• NC’s Southeast coastal areas are among the best

   locations in the state for • wind energy development

   (class 3 or better)

• The US Department of Energy believes NC offshore

   wind resources total more than 10,000 MW

• A NC Utility Commission study suggests there are

  over 500 MW of economically viable wind resources

  on land at the coast