On Tuesday, a manufacturer in Dorchester County celebrated the completion of its new solar energy system.

KION North America, a company that has been manufacturing forklifts and other equipment on Highway 78 since 1985, invested about $1.5 million dollars to install solar panels of the roof its facility and on the ground. The 1.0-megawatt system is called “Project Sunshine.”

“For us, it’s really important to have a sustainable energy source to power our equipment,” said Vincent Halma, the President and CEO of KION North America. “With this, we are capable of providing 80 percent of our energy needs through solar.”

The facility is taking part in SCE&G’s Distributed Energy Resources incentives program so it generates revenue for the company.

“We don’t use our energy directly. We officially sell it back to the utility company,” said Halma.

The new solar energy system generates enough power for 133 homes.

“It also is certainly going to take power usage off of the grid locally which certainly,” said Jay Byars, Dorchester County Council Chairman. “So we can generate the power we need.”

Byars said that the new solar energy system is the largest of its kind in the county.