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A,( 0 wn state's solar industry. Industrial -sized solar farms have dramatically come down in cost and no longer require the subsidy to become profitable, he said. Strata is the state's largest solar farm devel- oper and employs about 300 people on staff and about 1,500 hourly -paid workers who erect the facilities across the state. vacant real estate. The list of 2016 bene- ficiaries of the tax credit spans 150 pages, showing that the credits were claimed for projects val- ued at a total $1.7 billion. Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, claimed $37 million in 2016, the biggest - renewable tax " credit user for the year. Duke Energy Corp. claimed $23.9 million and Progress Energy (since renamed Duke Energy Progress) $7.5 million. Wells Fargo Bank claimed $13.2 million, the N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual In- surance Co. $9.3 million and Bank of America $7.7 million. The largest individual claim came from Strata Solar CEO Markus Wil- ty- :ale helm, who claimed $4.8 million. Much further down the -list was iPhone maker Apple, which operates data centers in the state and claimed $1.7 million. O'Hara said that insur- ance companies, banks and other corporations that claim the renewable tax credit are typically investors in solar farms and can claim the tax credit because they fi- nance the undertaking. Joel Olsen, CEO of 02 emc, a solar farm builder and operator about 20 miles north of Charlotte, said solar farms generate tax benefits to the state that far outweigh the tem- pogary loss of revenue from the tax credit. The projects operate for 30 years and pay local prop- solar, the tax credit has served its purpose," O'H- ara said. "It gave North Carolina an edge in grow- ing a solar industry." In addition to state and federal tax credits, the state's solar explosion was also driven by the 2007 state law mandating elec- tric utilities derive a por- tion of the electricity they sell from renewables. That year residents and busi- nesses claimed,just $440,137 in renewable tax credits. North Carolina quickly went from a smattering of small rooftop solar arrays, considered exotic and experimental a decade ago, to about 2,600 mega- watts of solar power to- day, most of that in utility - scale solar farms spraw- ling over farmland and erty taxes and state prop- erty taxes during that tithe. Olsen said that his com- pany put in a 20 -mega- watt solar farm in Mont- gomery County that's paying nearly $100,000 a year in property taxes. Before the project was built, the land was gener- ating less than $1,000 a year in county property taxes, he said. "Every dollar that's been spent here generates ... revenues for state -and local governments," Olsen said. John Murawski: 919 -829 -8932, @johnmurawski Attac,,hrnent 10