Glen Raven Inc. has launched a $2 million solar farm at its Anderson, S.C.-based manufacturing plant. The company’s 3,076-panel solar farm will power 100 percent of the 1-million-square-foot facility’s lights. Leib Oehmig, Glen Raven’s president and CEO, says Glen Raven expects to achieve payback on its investment within four years in terms of energy savings. This is the second solar array for the high-tech textile manufacturer. The first was a rooftop installation at its plant in Norlina, N.C., about 60 miles north of Raleigh. Built in 1994, the North Carolina-based company’s Anderson plant–called Glen Raven Custom Fabrics–is the largest manufacturing facility for the Sunbrella® brand of fabrics for awning, marine and upholstery applications. The company employs more than 700 people.