Besides recent developments in offshore oil and wind energy projects, there have been several other movements on energy issues that would affect the region. Here is a look at some of those:
 

SOLAR

Duke Energy in September said that it wants to invest $500 million in solar energy in North Carolina. The utility plans to buy three large solar farms, including one in Duplin County, and purchase power from five other solar projects.

Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar has proposed building a 5-megawatt solar farm with about 25,000 panels in Pender County. The company filed an application on the project earlier this year to the N.C. Utilities Commission.

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials this month announced they would be giving more than $55 million in loan guarantees for 22 solar farm projects across the state, including a 5-megawatt solar array in Columbus County. The money, through the agency’s Rural Energy for America Program, also included another nearly $400,000 in grants for energy efficiency projects in the state. The announcement was part of $68 million in funds for 540 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide.
 

NATURAL GAS

Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas announced this month that they picked energy company Dominion to build and operate a 550-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Robeson County in eastern North Carolina. The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which still needs regulatory approval, carries an estimated cost of $4.5-$5 billion and an initial capacity to carry 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.
 

BIOMASS

Wood pellet manufacturer Enviva is building a storage facility at the Port of Wilmington. The company plans to spend more than $214 million to develop two new wood pellet mills in Richmond and Sampson counties, whose output will be shipped to Europe through the port.

Wilmington-based Chemtex International plans to build a $200 million cellulosic biofuels facility in Sampson County, with projections of producing 20 million gallons a year of fuel from locally grown cane grass and other plant materials.
 

NUCLEAR

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy recently received federal approval to pursue commercial development of a new nuclear reactor design. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified Wilmington-based GE Hitachi that it has certified the company’s Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor design for use in the United States. Two proposed partnerships involving ESBWRs are waiting for a license from the NRC. One, with Detroit Edison in Michigan, is for a proposed nuclear power plant, with an NRC license expected in 2015. The second is with Dominion Virginia Power for a possible nuclear power plant at Dominion’s North Anna Power Station northwest of Richmond. That license is expected in 2016.

Another GE Hitachi project – its Global Laser Enrichment division – is slowing down for the time being as global demand and prices for enriched uranium has dropped off.
 
To read about recent developments in oil and wind energy projects click here.