Clean energy investments continue to make an impact in North Carolina

From Toyota’s new Randolph County EV battery plan to a new solar facility in Greenville to a huge new semiconductor project in Chatham County, clean energy projects are booming and leading to new jobs across the Tar Heel State. 

When Toyota officially starts production at its new electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County next year, it will do so with a team overwhelmingly hired from local communities. 

The company has already hired thousands of the roughly 5,000 total hires they expect to make for the facility, and about 95% of those workers are from within a 60-mile radius of the Toyota site in Liberty, Fox8 reported in October.

Those local workers are currently gearing up to assemble the next wave of personal transportation as part of a project made possible by state funds and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The federal clean energy law that provided huge incentives and tax credits for clean energy manufacturing and helped spur Toyota to dramatically increase its investment in the Liberty facility. 

Randolph County isn’t the only part of North Carolina experiencing a clean energy jobs boom. Thanks to funding from the state and federal government, clean energy projects — including many focused on EVs – are booming across the Tar Heel State. 

The IRA has helped spur nearly $20 billion in private clean energy investments across the state that are expected to create nearly 12,000 new jobs, according to a Climate Power analysis.

The state has also received billions in funding from President Biden’s Clean Energy Plan, which is being used to increase large-scale clean power generation, boost EV adoption, improve energy efficiency, make it easier for households to install solar panels, and transition to low- and zero-emission buses to reduce pollution.

Altogether, these investments will work together to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. North Carolina leaders have set a goal of reducing emissions by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 — ensuring the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activity is equal to the amount absorbed from the atmosphere. 

Here’s where some of those funds are going and what they’re being used for:

Agriculture

One of the focuses of the Inflation Reduction Act is reviving and maintaining America’s farms and helping them transition to cash-saving clean energy technologies. 

Over $12 million was granted to 60 North Carolina farms and businesses that were awarded Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants. These grants are given to farmers and other small rural business owners in order to make energy efficient improvements to their properties. 

Carolina Poultry Power RG 3 in La Grange received $1 million to assist in the purchase and installation of a poultry litter waste-to-energy biomass facility, which is expected to produce enough electricity to power 17,145 homes. 

The North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, a rural electric cooperative, also received over $100,000 to purchase and install a community solar array, which will generate enough electricity to power 59 homes.

Notably, farms and other agricultural businesses in the state’s 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 10th Congressional districts benefited from these grants, even though their representatives voted against the IRA. These legislators include Reps. Virginia Foxx, Dan Bishop, Patrick McHenry, and Greg Murphy, all Republicans. 

Electric vehicles and cleaner air

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program also received $5 billion to deploy electric vehicle charging stations throughout the country. North Carolina is estimated to receive $109 million in total funding over five years.

Increasing the number of charging stations and making it easier for drivers to charge their cars is crucial to making EVs more accessible throughout the US, a necessary part of addressing climate change. Fully electric cars produce zero tailpipe emissions, which lowers both smog and greenhouse gas emissions. 

In 2023, North Carolina added 1,164 EV charging ports.

Several electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities have also invested millions of dollars in the state over the past several years. The Forge Battery manufacturing plant in Morrisville, for example, invested $165 million, and the John Deere battery and charger manufacturing facility in Kernersville invested $69.6 million.

Together, these companies are expected to create more than 250 new clean energy jobs in the state.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law additionally created the Clean School Bus Rebate Program, which provides funding to school districts to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and clean school buses. According to the EPA, clean school buses eliminate or reduce bus exhaust, which is linked to asthma, reducing health risks for children whose lungs are still developing. 

Nineteen North Carolina school districts received over $31 million from the program. Columbus County Schools now have seven electric buses, and Bladen County Schools now have five.  

Additionally, 15 North Carolina school districts received over $57.3 million in funding through the Clean School Bus Program Grants Competition.

Ten projects across the state of North Carolina also received over $52 million in funding from the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Low-and No-Emission Vehicle Program. 

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority, for example, is using its portion of the funds to buy new hybrid electric buses. The City of Greensboro will be using its portion of the funds to buy new battery-electric buses and hybrid-diesel buses to replace older vehicles and install charging equipment. 

North Carolina also received $3 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, which provides funding to states, local governments, tribes, and territories so that they can develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Charlotte‐Concord‐Gastonia and Raleigh-Cary Metro Areas both received an additional $1 million through the program as well, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ tribal government also received funding.

Solar power and other clean energy materials

Investments in agriculture and electric vehicles aren’t the only clean energy projects booming in North Carolina, however. 

Earlier this year, Boviet Solar announced that it would invest $294 million into establishing its first North American production facility in Greenville. The company plans to hire over 900 workers at wages higher than the Pitt County average; they’ll be tasked with producing photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, which power solar panels. 

Siemens Energy, Inc., one of the world’s leading energy technology companies, also announced a $149.8 million investment earlier this year to build large power transformers in Mecklenburg County; power transformers transfer electrical power from one circuit to another without altering the frequency, and the kind that will be manufactured at this facility are a critical component of the US’ power grid. 

This investment will create 475 new jobs, again with salaries above the county average. 

Additionally, Wolfspeed, a semiconductor developer and manufacturer, has announced a $5 billion investment into creating “the world’s largest silicon carbide materials facility in Chatham County.” The company is tasked with supplying raw materials for chips used in EVs. 

The facility will create 1,800 new jobs in North Carolina that will pay an average salary of over $77,000 annually.

State-level efforts to boost clean energy

The North Carolina government has also made significant efforts to attract new clean energy projects in recent years. 

Last year, Gov. Roy Cooper announced 14,114 new jobs in the state across 134 different business recruitment, expansion, or rural development projects.

The companies behind these projects worked with the North Carolina Department of Commerce or its team at the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina to bring nearly $13 billion in capital investment into the state. 

Kempower’s facility in Durham County, for example, has been building charging stations for electric vehicles, and the company has invested $41 million into the endeavor, which created over 600 jobs. 

In total, North Carolina has announced 17,500 clean energy sector jobs since Gov. Cooper took office in 2017. These workers are working on projects representing more than $22.1 billion of capital investment. 

“North Carolina has seen historic economic growth and development in the last few years including our rural areas thanks to our great workforce and major investments from companies across the globe,” Gov. Cooper said last year. “North Carolina continues to be the best place to locate and grow a business and we’ll keep working to bring good-paying jobs to every corner of our state.”