China's ENN Group and U.S. utility Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) signed a partnership agreement Friday to build large-scale solar power plants in the U.S. state of North Carolina, ENN Group said Friday.

Under an agreement signed around noon, ENN and Duke are beginning a partnership that could see the construction of vast solar farms and distributed generation solar solutions for customers throughout the U.S., the Chinese company said in a statement.

ENN Chairman Wang Yusuo said the partnership represented a "great opportunity" to promote the Chinese group's renewable energy solutions in the U.S, noting that "ENN and Duke Energy have very complementary strengths."

This follows the high-profile news that another Chinese company, China National Offshore Oil Corp., is trying to buy offshore oil assets in the U.S. gulf of Mexico. Cnooc's $18.5 billion bid to purchase California-based Unocal Corp. (UCL) in 2005 met with stiff political resistance, forcing the company to abort the attempt.

Duke and ENN will form a 50:50 joint venture, and they plan to start construction of solar power stations in North Carolina next year, 

The two companies are currently studying local market demand, and will decide the scale of total investment and the capacity of solar power stations based on the results, ENN official said.

"Duke Energy's partnership with ENN will not only accelerate the development of solar power in the U.S., but help achieve economies of scale and drive the cost of renewable energy down," Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers said in the ENN statement.

The agreement stems from a Sept. 23 pact under which the companies pledged to work together to push the development of low-carbon and clean energy technologies.