The sun is shining on North Carolina’s solar power industry.

A new report from SolarBuzz, which tracks the global solar power industry, says North Carolina is No. 2 in a fast-growing U.S. market. The state climbed three spots in 2013, driven by what the report calls “strong utility-scale activity.”

Duke Energy, for example, opened three solar farms recently in eastern N.C. Duke also recently established a unit to construct solar farms, according to The Charlotte Observer.

In 2012, North Carolina ranked second among all states in clean energy jobs, according to a report from the group Environmental Entrepreneurs. Including projects already in operation or in progress, the Tar Heel state counted 10,867 clean jobs last year. North Carolina was topped only by California, which had 38 new projects and a total of 26,354 green jobs.

On the solar front, fast-growing Strata Solor recently moved its headquarters to Chatham County, plans to have 100 workers by the end of January and employ 1,200 contractors statewide constructing projects, according to the Chatham Journal.

Meanwhile, in Marion, The Solar Connection plans to add 50 jobs for a new manufacturing facility.

There’s more.

A review of stories posted in WRALTechWire in recent months (listed with this post) document installations, new business deals, financing support and continuing research.

According to a summary of the report printed in the solar news website Solarmovus.com, North Carolina passed New Jersey and Arizona in deployments but still ranks behind California.

The growth in N.C. is part of an overall trend in which the U.S. added 15 percent more solar power in 2013 than the previous year, reaching a capacity of 4.2 gigawatts.

Of that amount, a record 1.4GW was installed in the fourth quarter.

Most of the power is being generated by solar farms, but 20 percent is coming from rooftop markets and small-scale deployments such as residential rooftops.

For a summary of the report and a link to it, check out Solarmovus’ story. The report is available for purchase.