LA GRANGE, N.C. (WNCT) – The Lenoir County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a special permit for a solar facility within the county at Monday’s meeting.

The development is called the Bear Point Solar Facility, owned by Cypress Creek Renewables, a group that has been in the state since 2014. Those with Cypress Creek Renewables said they were excited to bring the facility to Lenoir County.

“The sites that we want are flat, dry and close to transmission lines, and as well as, again as I mentioned, willing landowners. Lenoir County is one area that we’ve had that checks all of those boxes,” Cypress Creek Renewables Senior Project Developer Nicole Miller said.

The solar facility will be located on Bull Town Road, south of La Grange. The development will be built on a site just over 300 acres.

“We’ll have solar panels that are attached to steel beams and rooted into the ground. So, this particular site, we’re looking at about 330 or so acres of solar panels. That’ll connect to the high-voltage transmission lines that Duke has running across the site,” Miller said.

The facility will bring power across the state, she said.

“We’ll be able to have that power be distributed across North Carolina to North Carolina homes,” Miller said.

The Board of Commissioners said it will bring jobs to Lenoir County.

“As they build the facility, it will bring jobs and it will bring revenue into the county. Then, you know, they’ll be paying the farmers so much for lease, and there again is more income that you’ll have,” Lenoir County Board of Commissioners Chairman Linda Rouse Sutton said.

Sutton adds facilities like this could help struggling farmers.

“A dependable income that a farmer could get, especially if he’s to the point that he’s had to get out of farming. It’s certainly very enticing to them to have that kind of income,” Sutton said.

Cypress Creek Renewables officials encourage those who might have concerns about solar facilities to reach out.

“These are safe, proven technologies, our panels are non-toxic, these are areas we’ve been studying for a while,” Miller said.

Those interested in contacting Cypress Creek Renewables can click this link here.