The San Francisco-based company did not identify lending sources or financial terms of the deal.

The project in Whitakers in northeastern North Carolina will utilize 150,000 modeules from Japan's Solar Frontier and achieve commercial operation later this year.

That will qualify it for both the state and federal renewable energy investment tax credits. The state 35% ITC for solar will sunset on 31 December, while the 30% federal ITC for solar is due to step down to 10% at the end of 2016.

Analysts