ATLANTA, Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company today announced the acquisition of the company's first solar installation in North Carolina – the 2.5-megawatt (MW) Granville Solar Facility – by subsidiary Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy.  The project represents the partnership's fourth joint solar acquisition. 

The Granville Solar Facility is located on a 40-acre site in Granville County, N.C., near Oxford.  It is being built and will be operated and maintained by SunEdison, a leading global provider of solar energy services and a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR).  Construction is under way and the facility is expected to enter commercial operation later this month.

Ted Turner, owner of Turner Renewable Energy, teamed with a Southern Company subsidiary in January 2010 to strategically develop renewable energy projects in the United States.

The partnership's first project was the acquisition and development of the 30-MW Cimarron Solar Facility near Raton, N.M. It was, at the time of purchase, the largest solar photovoltaic plant in the nation. The partnership has since purchased the 20-MW Apex Solar Facility and the 30-MW Spectrum Solar Facility, both of which are located in Clark County, Nev.

The Granville Solar Facility's output will serve a power purchase agreement with Progress Energy Carolinas.

Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is among the largest wholesale energy providers in the Southeast, meeting the electricity needs of municipalities, electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities. The company and its subsidiaries own and operate more than 7,800 megawatts with facilities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and New Mexico, and have an additional 720 megawatts under construction in North Carolina.

Turner Renewable Energy is wholly owned by Ted Turner. Turner Enterprises, Inc., a private company, manages the business interests, land holdings and investments of Ted Turner, including the oversight of 2 million acres in 12 states and in Argentina, and more than 55,000 bison.

SunEdison is a global provider of solar-energy services. The company develops, finances, installs and operates distributed power plants using proven photovoltaic technologies, delivering fully managed and predictably priced solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers. In 2011 SunEdison interconnected approximately 300 megawatts of solar throughout the world. For more information about SunEdison, visit www.sunedison.com.

With 4.4 million customers and more than 43,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast.  A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications.  Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices below the national average.  Southern Company also is continually ranked among the top utilities in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

SOURCE Southern Company