During a time when most industries are scaling back as quickly as possible, one industry is shining. The demand for solar panels continues to rise and so does the requirements for infrastructure required to produce them. In the latest example of the boom in solar energy, Twin Creeks Technologies will start making solar panels in a new, state of the art factory. The 250,000 square foot manufacturing plant will be built on a site in Senatobia, a town in northern Mississippi.

$54 million of local and state funds were appropriated in various assistance packages. Twin Creeks is venture capital backed renewable technologies company based in San Jose California. The company plans to invest more than $175 million in the project .

The ramp up to full production at the facility is expected to take up to 5 years.

Advanced Green Technolgies, a Florida based solar distributor,  is expanding it’s services northward to to take advantage of the current tax incentives offered by North Carolina.

AGT said they will open a new office in Charlotte, their second in the state.   They are also trying to acquire financing to construct a $14M  2.3 megawatt solar project in the eastern part of the state, the largest such roof top solar installation of it’s kind in NC.   The company said they only plan to hire one additional staff member for the new NC office.

North Carolina offers residents a healthy 35% Solar Tax Credit from a well managed state program.   Florida’s Rebate program has been plagued with backlogs and underfunding.

AGT’s existing Wilmington North Carolina offices have been operational for over 2 years.  In addition to their existing Ft Lauderdale based operations, AGT also operates office in Portland Oregon and Long Island New York.