That's third most in the country behind California and Nevada, enough to power about 300,000 homes at peak hours (the breakdown does not show the residential/commercial/utility breakdown).
Check out the map: it's nuts.
SNL
Here's a shot of a 6.4 MW farm in western Catawba County from Strata Solar:
At 12.5%, the state has the most aggressive renewable portfolio standard in The South, and GTM Research projects it will end 2013 ranking third in the nation for utility-scale solar.
The N.C. Solar Center in Raleigh just hosted a conference in which an SVP for a utility equipment maker said the industry in the state and elsewhere was in "almost a panic mode."
We've discussed why previously: solar usually results in "disintermediation," and the whole point of a utility is to serve as the medium between a power supply and its user. Charlotte-based Duke Energy, the country's largest utility, has been trying to catch up through its own solar projects.
But this appears to be a swiftly moving target.