PEMC has signed a purchase power agreement with MegaWatt Solar Inc. of Hillsborough. The latter is building a field of solar panel collectors at PEMC’s Yanceyville office that, when completed, is expected to generate 50 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic electricity.

Richard Mabbott, chief operating officer at PEMC, estimated that about 20 homes could be fully powered on the 50 kW, but, he said, the electricity generated from the solar panels would go into the main grid along with that from other sources.

Mabbott said the project began a few months ago, when PEMC contracted with MegaWatt Solar as a means of producing energy through alternative means and also to comply with N.C. Senate Bill 3, which became law in 2007.

The bill calls for power companies to use a greater percentage of renewable energy in their generation mix while promoting least-cost planning for power supply.

Jim Lamont of MegaWatt Solar said the panels at the PEMC site use convex mirrors to collect the sunlight at 20 times the normal rate and focus that energy on silicon strips that then transfer the energy into the grid.

He said the process was a means of “concentrating solar energy.”

The new solar panels, Lamont said, differ from the “one sun” black level collectors of the 1970s and 80s. Those older panels collected energy as the sun moved over them. >>

“This system moves with the sun,” he said. “We’ve come up with a better design and it is less costly,” Lamont explained, estimating that the cost of producing energy through the MegaWatt Solar panels would be “close to the cost of coal” power production.

Still, said Lamont, although the new design is better than that of the past and is more efficient in collecting energy, “it needs sunshine” to generate power. “It is not meant to provide electricity all the time.”

The solar field, he said, would provide additional electricity during peak demand periods.

He said he and MegaWatt Solar were “really appreciative” of the opportunity to work with PEMC to help provide alternative energy sources.

“You think about what’s happening with energy in total,” Lamont said. “Gas prices are up,” and natural gas prices will rise, therefore, “it’s only a matter of time until we see the electric bill go up in total.”

He said solar was one way to potentially combat rising power bills while also generating cleaner electricity.

The solar panels used at the PEMC site, he said, “don’t have any of the dirty materials” associated with some forms of so-called “green” alternatives such as the toxic by-products used in the production of batteries for hybrid cars.

The materials used in the solar panels he said, “are all readily available.”

The MegaWatt solar cells use 95 percent less silicon and only fully developed materials, components and subsystems already in use, according to literature the company provided PEMC. Available silicon cell technology uses no “exotic materials” and utilizes “existing low cost, field proven, composite aluminum mirror materials.”

According to its Web site, www.megawattsolar.com, “MegaWatt Solar, Inc., in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teamed with [Scandinavian] firm Scatec to develop a cost-effective and scalable solar power generator for utility-sized applications. During the design process, MegaWatt Solar developed a technological break-through in solar generation. We believe that this design will have a pronounced impact on alleviating the fossil fuel crisis for electrical power generation.”

Peidmont Electric COO Mabbott said the company hopes to be generating power from the Caswell County solar field this fall. An open house is tentatively planned for late September, he said.

“We’re committed to moving ahead with a balanced approach to power supply,” said Mabbott. “New technologies and energy efficiency are very important to us,” he said, “and we encourage our customers to work with us to use energy efficiently.”

 PEMC serves approximately 30,000 member-consumers in Person, Alamance, Caswell Durham, Granville and Orange counties.