Chapel Hill-based energy company Strata Solar is relocating to downtown Durham.

Multiple outlets reported the company, which has been headquartered in Chapel Hill since its founding in 2008, will be moving to Durham’s Golden Belt campus.

Strata has over 1.3 gigawatts of solar power to date and another 3.5 gigawatts “in our development pipeline,” according to the company’s website.

Strata CEO Markus Wilhelm said that space for the company’s current employees and future expansions was a driving force behind the decision to move to Durham.

“We needed a space that could accommodate all of our local employees under one roof and give us the ability to continue expanding,” he said.

Wilhelm also noted the fact that the solar energy company would be moving to a facility containing an old power plant.

“The transformation of the Mill building and old power plant into a center of clean energy technology and artistic expression is a great symbol of the innovation that has driven our company’s success.”

North Carolina currently ranks third for solar energy growth and second in the nation for installed solar capacity, according to a new report.

Chapel Hill Economic Development director Dwight Bassett recently said that the town was putting an emphasis on encouraging office space development after a drop off in development following the recession.

“From 1969 until the downturn in 2008,” Bassett said, “we were building about 75,000 to 100,000 square-feet-a-year in office space. The downturn came, and we got out of it in 2010. If you look at our office absorption rate from 2010 until Carolina Square and the Station at East 54 were developed, was zero or negative. We essentially lost all momentum in our office market.”

New focuses and guidelines put forward in Chapel Hill’s Blue Hill District are aimed at bringing more office space to the area.

Strata has more than 350 full-time employees, according to its website.

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