Duke Energy Plans Up 850 Solar Systems in North Carolina

June 9, 2008 – Vol.13 No.12

Duke Energy Plans Up 850 Solar Systems in North Carolina.

The company is proposing a $100 million plan to install electricity generating solar panels at sites including homes, schools, stores and factories.

Under the plan, which would provide as much as 16 megawatts of power, 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.

“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.”

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.

In addition to this proposal, the company pursuing other alternative energies. Duke Energy plans to buy approximately 16 megawatts of energy from the nation’s largest photovoltaic solar farm, to be built by SunEdison in Davidson County, North Carolina. Further, in April 2008, a wind farm in Indiana began supplying 100 megawatts of power to Duke Energy Indiana customers. Finally, Duke Energy Generation Services has more than 3,000 megawatts of wind projects under development in eight different states.

Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, as one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million US customers. (6/9/08)

Links:

Duke Energy
http://www.duke-energy.com

--- GridPoint and Duke Energy Test Smart Charging for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

--- Duke Energy To Purchase 150 Megawatts of Wind Turbines From GE Energy.

Disclaimer, Forward-Looking or Safe Harbor Statement on original press release: No