Solar Firm to Locate in North Carolina and Department of Energy Releases Wind Energy Report

North Carolina will be the home to Shletter, Inc who is a designer and manufacturer of solar power mounting systems.  Sheletter, Inc will set up their headquarters in the town of Shelby, NC.   Gov. Beverly Perdue said that by 2016, this company will create 300 jobs and invest more than $27 million in the Shelby facility. Since 2008, Schletter was locating their manufacturing facilities for photovoltaic mounting systems in Arizona.

The Department of Energy released their report on the state of wind energy installations throughout the USA for 2011.  According to this report, there is good news for wind since 2010 when the effects of the recession were being felt in full.  In total, the U.S. added 6.8 gigawatts of wind power production capacity from 562 turbines in 2011, enough to power 1.7 million homes. That was a growth rate of 16 percent overall and 31 percent over 2010.  Presently, the United States has 47 gigawatts of wind energy generation capacity.