Solar powered, sheep-tended plant

Person County solar farm delivers 650-kW renewable energy via 3,420 photovoltaic panels, under a 20-year utility contract with Progress Energy, cutting coal emissions and powering 60 homes, with sheep grazing for low-impact operations and maintenance.

The state's newest solar energy farm, which officially opened near Roxboro, will be one of North Carolina's most visible green-energy efforts.

Progress Energy is buying the electricity generated by the 5-acre facility in Person County, enough to power about 60 homes, as part of a 20-year contract. The solar power plant has already begun generating electricity.

The 650-kilowatt facility, operated by Carolina Solar Energy of Durham, is not the state's largest. Progress Energy signed a contract for a Laurinburg facility that will be nearly four times bigger, while the Duke Energy solar farm in North Carolina showcases similar momentum across the state.

But the complex of 3,420 angled photovoltaic panels at the Person County Business and Industrial Center is clearly visible from U.S. 501, while rooftop solar could increasingly distribute capacity onto buildings across town.

"People are stopping by all the time," said Richard Harkrader, owner of Carolina Solar Energy. "At first, people thought it was a vineyard because we were putting up a lot of poles."

Carolina Solar Energy plans to debut a Web site that will provide real-time readouts showing how much energy the solar farm is generating, how much power it has generated to date, and, reflecting the benefits of solar energy for emissions accounting and outreach, how much carbon dioxide it's reducing by offsetting power from Progress Energy's coal-burning power plants.

Solar panels are pricey, and putting them on public display is not without risk, even as solar power on the shopping network gains mainstream attention among consumers. BB&T, the bank that financed the project, required that the $4 million solar farm be surrounded by barbed wire.

To further promote the green theme, Carolina Solar Energy will arrange to have sheep brought in to trim the grass. Jim Stovall, chairman of the Person County Economic Development Commission, said sheep are a natural fit.

Progress Energy has six contracts with solar farms to help it meet renewable energy goals spelled out in a 2007 state energy law, and Duke Energy may increase solar in 2009 as utilities expand capacity statewide. One in Cary, on the campus of software developer SAS, also uses sheep.

"That's increasingly considered a best practice," SAS spokeswoman Allison Lane said. "They're much better able to get around the panels and equipment than our landscaping would ever be. And (there are) fewer emissions."

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