The old Halifax County Airport will be the future home of a solar research and learning center, the company Geenex announced this afternoon.

While the company plans to sell energy to utility companies, the centerpiece will be the Solar Center of Excellence, county board of commissioners Chairman James Pierce said at the briefing held in Roanoke Rapids.

“This is another great day for Halifax County,” Pierce said. “This is the culmination of a lot of work within the last few months.”

Conceptual rendering of the center.

County Economic Development Director Kathy Scott said eight months of work went into bringing the company to Halifax County with a 30-year agreement.

Mike Whitson, of PCG Solar Inc., which is teaming with Geenex, said North Carolina is becoming the center of solar research in the Southeast.

George Veit, the chief operating officer of Geenex, said the center has the potential to make Halifax County the center of solar research in the state.

The company, whose background began in Germany, decided to locate in North Carolina because of the workforce, infrastructure and the industrial potential of the county, Veit said.

Veit, standing, addresses the audience.

The airport property on Highway 158 outside Roanoke Rapids has been vacant the last four years. While there are permitting hoops to go through, the first phase is to build the first solar plant at the old site, work on building the center and work on a bigger solar system over the next year.

Geenex will work with the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as well North Carolina State University, Veit said.

The project represents a $72 million investment in the county, Scott said, and will create what she said will be 12 good-paying jobs.

Pierce said the center would add an educational environment to the county.

Frank Avent, chair of the Halifax Community College Board of Trustees and chair of the county economic development commission, said the college would work with Geenex. “This is a great day in Halifax County. You could have not come to any county in North Carolina that has more support than Halifax County. We’re delighted to have them here.”