CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 9 NC-DukeEnrgySolarPwr
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Duke Energy Carolinas is
proposing a $100 million plan to install electricity generating solar panels
at up to 850 North Carolina sites including homes, schools, stores and
factories.
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Last Friday, the company filed an application with the North Carolina
Utilities Commission asking for approval to implement this solar distributed
generation program. Distributed generation is energy created close to where it
is used, rather than being produced in large power plants and transported to
customers over power lines.
"We believe an initiative of this scope and scale will help us meet the
requirement of North Carolina's new Renewable and Energy Efficiency Portfolio
Standard (REPS)," said Keith Trent, group executive and chief strategy, policy
and regulatory officer. "This program also will enable us to evaluate the role
of distributed generation on our system, and gain experience in owning and
operating renewable energy resources."
If the program is approved by regulators, Duke Energy Carolinas would
spend two years installing approximately 20 megawatts of distributed solar
generation on rooftops of customer businesses and homes or on ground sites
within the company's North Carolina service area.
Solar power has to be converted from direct to alternating current. Once
that's done, Duke Energy Carolinas customers will benefit from more than 16
megawatts of power, enough energy to serve more than 2,600 homes.
Duke Energy Carolinas would own and operate the equipment and the power
produced by each installation would be used to serve the utility's customers.
Customers who agree to place solar panels at their location would be rewarded
based on the size of the installation and the amount of energy it produces.
The company plans to recover its $100 million investment through North
Carolina's new REPS cost recovery mechanism. The company estimates that, over
its life, the program will increase the average customer's bill by no more
than 25 cents a month. The average customer uses about 1000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity each month.
In 2007, the company supported the development of the REPS. It requires
the utility to satisfy 12.5 percent of its customers' power needs with
renewables or energy efficiency by 2021. The new law has specific provisions
for solar energy. Beginning in 2010, 0.02 percent of the electricity sold to
customers in the state, or an equivalent amount of energy, must be produced by
solar energy resources. That requirement grows to 0.2 percent in 2018 and
thereafter.
In addition to this proposal, the company is purchasing solar power.
Recently, Duke Energy Carolinas announced it would buy approximately 16
megawatts of energy from the nation's largest photovoltaic solar farm, to be
built by SunEdison in Davidson County, N.C. Once operational in late 2010, the
farm will supply enough energy to power more than 2,600 homes.
As a corporation, Duke Energy is also pursuing other alternative energy
projects. In April 2008, a wind farm in Indiana began supplying 100 megawatts
of power to Duke Energy Indiana customers.
In addition, Duke Energy Generation Services has more than 3,000 megawatts
of wind projects under development in eight different states.
Duke Energy's Carolinas' operations include nuclear, coal-fired, natural
gas and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides nearly 21,000
megawatts of safe, reliable and competitively priced electricity to more than
2.3 million electric customers in a 24,000-square-mile service area of North
Carolina and South Carolina.
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United
States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million U.S.
customers in its regulated jurisdictions. The company has approximately 35,000
megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas,
and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke
Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America,
and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is a Fortune 500
company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More
information about the company is available on the Internet at:
www.duke-energy.com.
CONTACT: Paige Sheehan
Phone:704-382-6982
24-Hour: 704-382-8333
SOURCE Duke Energy
