For the past 30 years North Carolina has built a thriving solar industry and now the fossil fuel industry is bullying their way to ruin it – PB/TK
Fossil fuel interests seek to kneecap North Carolina’s growing solar industry – By Molly Taft, Laura A. Shepard, and Monika Sharma
Alongside Highway 401 in northern North Carolina is a 21st-century twist on a classic rural scene. A few miles outside of Roxboro, sheep graze among 5,000 panels at the Person County Solar Park, keeping the grass tidy on the rural installation.
Fields like these aren’t just scenic settings for roadtripping tourists to snap photos. Solar has “been some of the only economic development to happen in rural North Carolina in the last 30 years,” explained Richard Harkrader, CEO of a local solar company.
For companies like Harkrader’s Carolina Solar Energy, the Tar Heel State is a great place to do business. Abundant sunshine, ample support for clean energy, and smart public policy have spurred the rapid growth of solar. Today, North Carolina boasts more solar capacity than every state except California. In the first quarter of 2017, North Carolina added more solar than any other state, and its solar industry employs more people than Wake Forest University.
Continue to thinkprogress.org article: https://thinkprogress.org/north-carolina-considers-a-bill-to-give-duke-energy-more-power-over-the-solar-industry-6f5ef28e3743
