On the sprawling Cary campus that houses the headquarters for the worldwide technology company, a sea of solar panels is rising above a ruddy clay clearing of land.

Once the “solar farm” is complete, SAS Institute will sell the energy that’s generated to Progress Energy Carolinas.

The innovative partnership is intended to help Progress Energy meet renewable energy goals.

“It’s a great partnership. We’re very pleased,” said Mike Hughes, spokesperson for Progress Energy.

The five-acre solar farm, expected to be complete by year’s end, will generate 1.7 million kilowatt hours per year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tons annually, according to a SAS press release.

That’s enough energy to power about 120 homes around the clock, Hughes said.

The partnership comes at a time when Progress Energy is trying to meet state requirements for using “renewable resources or energy-efficient” means to power homes and businesses. It must obtain up to 12.5 percent of its energy through those types of sources by 2021. It must also begin including solar-generated energy in the mix by 2010.

Progress Energy put out requests for proposals on renewable energy projects last year and is doing so again this year, Hughes said.

In addition to the solar plant at SAS, it also will be buying the energy produced from similar plants in Haywood County and Wilmington, with a 20-year guarantee for the energy purchases, Hughes said.

The partnerships provide a solar energy source for Progress Energy to meet its requirements while benefiting companies with tax incentives and an income source to recoup the cost of building the plant.

SAS worked with the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University on a feasibility study. The company owns the plant and will begin selling the energy as soon as it’s completed.

“It’s like a lot of the things we do here at SAS,” said Dave Thomas, spokesperson for SAS. “It has a bottom-line benefit as well as a community benefit.

“This is a model that other companies can follow,” Thomas said.

On bright, chilly day last week, workers from Southern Energy Management in Morrisville were busy stripping solar panels — at a cost of about $1,000 each — from boxes and mounting them onto fixtures facing skyward.

The farm will contain 5,400 panels. The panels, part of a SunPower Tracker solar tracking system, are guided by a GPS system to tilt toward the sun as it moves, increasing energy capture by up to 30 percent, said Ingrid Ekstrom, a spokesperson for SunPower.

Ekstrom said the California-based company has installed about 500 large-scale systems worldwide. Once installed, the upkeep is minimal, she said. “Those panels are the same panels some people install on their roofs. You don’t need to turn them on or off at night,” Ekstrom said.

Who will benefit locally? Here’s where it gets tricky. Progress Energy has a range of energy sources pooling into its grids that in turn power homes and businesses. Some oil and coal, some nuclear, and natural gas.

Since the solar power generated will become part of that mix, it is difficult to determine which customers are benefiting at any given time.

Hughes said “technology is probably one of the biggest hurdles” as the industry moves forward to balance renewable and traditional sources.

For example — solar power is only generated when the sun comes out. But customers use power 24 hours a day.

“Even as we move to more of these intermittent generating sources there’s a general recogniion that we have to do this responsibly and deliberately,” Hughes said.

Another drawback to some forms of renewable energy is cost. Solar is still comparatively expensive. But in moving forward to meet its goals Progress Energy has been given the authority to recoup the extra costs through its customers.

“It’s not intended to be a big burden,” Hughes said, adding a cap of $10 has been set for the first year.

Hughes said that although the deadline has officially passed for submitting proposals for renewable energy projects in 2009, the company will still accept them. Visit progress-energy.com for information.

“These are great first steps,” Hughes said. “We need 100 more [solar farms] just like it.”

Progress report
In 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, the electricity that Progress Energy Carolinas produced came from these fuels and technologies:
Coal: 50 percent
Nuclear: 44 percent
Natural gas and oil: 5 percent
Hydroelectic power: 1 percent