German born solar enthusiasts Josef Kessen and Georg Veit discovered they had common dreams after meeting at a convention in 2011, and formed Geenex a year later. After working a couple smaller projects, they searched for a place to build a larger project that could also include a solar educational center. They found a winning site in the former 220-acre Halifax County airport, which had been vacated when a new airport opened in 2009.
Construction on the site in Roanoke Rapids began in June of 2014. Workers installer more than 100,000 ET Solar and Chint Power Systems panels. The project also uses 866 Advanced Energy 3TL string inverters, each with 23.2 kW of AC capacity. The installation, known as the HXOap Solar Project, can produce enough electricity to power approximately 3,500 homes.
The solar farm also includes a 5,000-square-feet learning center where professionals can come study for solar jobs, and students can learn about solar power.
“We are proud of the solar farm we built, but even more exciting is the partnership with the community,” said Georg Veit, CEO of Geenex. “In a unique economic development agreement with the county, we have broken ground on our Solar Center of Excellence, which will provide education about solar power and work in partnership with the schools in the region and Halifax Community College to train solar energy technicians.”
The project reached commissioning in December of 2014 and includes a 15-year power purchase agreement with Dominion North Carolina Power.
Project Details
Location: Roanoke Rapids, N.C. (Halifax County)
Size: 20 MW AC
Panels: ET Solar, Chint Power Systems
Inverters: 866 AE 3TL string inverters
Racking: RBI Solar
Developer: Geenex and ET Capital
Designer/Installer: Alpha Energy
Monitoring: AlsoEnergy
