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Colleton Solar Farm
View a time-lapse video of workers building the Colleton Solar Farm in Walterboro, S.C.
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A worker installs a solar panel at the Colleton Solar Farm in Walterboro, S.C.
Photo by Mic Smith
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A worker carries a solar panel to be installed at the Colleton Solar Farm in Walterboro, S.C.
Photo by Mic Smith
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A view from above as the Colleton Solar farm takes shape along Interstate 95 in Walterboro, S.C.
Photo by Mic Smith
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A worker installs solar panels at the Colleton Solar Farm in Walterboro, S.C.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Precarious positioning puts this worker at the top of a group of solar panels at the Colleton Solar Farm in Walterboro, S.C.
Photo by Mic Smith
See how much electricity the Colleton Solar Farm is producing right now.
It took a lot of hard work and careful planning, but South Carolina’s largest solar energy farm is up and running.
Now the sun has to do its part.
The Colleton Solar Farm, a joint project between South Carolina’s electric cooperatives, Santee Cooper and TIG Sun Energy, is a first-of-its kind collaboration designed to test the true potential for solar energy in South Carolina.
With more than 10,000 photovoltaic panels arrayed on a 27-acre tract, the new facility has a peak generating capacity of 3 megawatts of electricity on clear days when the sun is directly overhead. In 2014, if the weather follows normal patterns, the facility could produce as much as 4.468 megawatt-hours, or enough electricity to supply the annual needs of 300 South Carolina homes.
Due to the intermittent nature of solar power, the electricity produced at the solar farm will cost more per kilowatt-hour than conventional electricity supplies. South Carolina’s electric cooperatives will offer the electricity generated by the solar facility to industrial customers across the state, while studying better ways to integrate renewable energy into the conventional power grid.
“The Colleton Solar Farm is a real-world, full-scale learning tool,” says Ron Calcaterra, CEO of Central Electric Power Cooperative, the wholesale power provider for the state’s electric cooperatives. “The question co-ops want to answer is how we can design a consumer-friendly product that makes solar power available to our members in a reliable, affordable and economically sustainable way.”