A study by Environment North Carolina’s Research and Policy Center found that the Tar Heel State could derive a significant portion of its energy from solar power.

North Carolina has almost as much solar intensity as Florida, ENC noted, making its solar potential "vast."

The only real limitations, says the environmental group, are a lack of usable space and the speed with which solar projects could be installed. "North Carolina is just waking up to its potential as a leader in the Southeast in solar energy development," said NC Solar Center executive director Steve Kalland.

ENC projects that solar energy will account for 2 percent of the state’s electricity production by 2020 and 14 percent by 2030. To reach that goal by 2030, 700,000 solar panels would have to be put into service on the roofs of businesses and homes. But solar power in North Carolina is good for the state’s economy: nine times more jobs are created by installing solar power than installing fossil fuel power, ENC says.

Richard Harkrader, CEO of Carolina Solar Energy, cited solar’s cost-effectiveness, too. "In North Carolina," he said, solar power "can now beat the price of electricity from new nuclear plants."