DUKE BUYS MORE SUN

Solar energy installations are getting bigger and more efficient. A new Duke Energy/SunEdison project will reach for 16 megawatts of capacity to surpass the current biggest U.S. photovoltaic (PV) facility, a 14-megawatt installation at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Critics contend a change to New Energy will drive electricity bills up. This solar installation is expected to do just that. $1 per year. That's the added burden it is estimated Carolina ratepayers will have to bear for solar energy. Think they can take it?

Conclusion: Sun is cheap. Greenhouse gas emissions cost a lot more.

A note on size: Though solar power plants using concentrating solar technologies to drive steam turbines have bigger capacities, this will be the largest PV installation in the U.S.

The recent flurry of activity by Duke Energy in acquiring solar energy resources (see UTILITY WILL SPEND $100 MIL ON SOLAR) is repeatedly and accurately attributed to the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) passed by the state of North Carolina late in 2007. The North Carolina law requires the state’s utilities to obtain 3% of their power from New Energy sources by 2012 and gradually ups the requirement to 12.5% in 2021. In most of the states that have passed such measures, New Energy development is booming.

This is concrete evidence that a national RES, passed by the House of Representatives last year but blocked by a minority of recalcitrant Republicans in the Senate mired in 1950s thinking, really would advance the development of New Energy across the country without negatively impacting consumer power costs, as advocates claim.

Opponents of a national RES contend that not every state has adequate New Energy resources to meet a national standard. This Duke/SunEdison collaboration demonstrates how each state has unique exploitable assets. While Duke is developing wind in Indiana and other states, it is developing solar in the Carolinas, where wind is inadequate except in environmentally protected regions.

Like many states, North Carolina sees the benefits in developing solar and other New Energies. Neal Lurie, American Solar Energy Society: "[I]t seems like each state is looking to outdo the other to be recognized as the renewable energy leader."

The Asheboro, N.C., Zoo began using 3 3,400-square-foot solar panels in January 2008 that cost $800,000 and will power 3 picnic shelters. To stimulate uptake, NC GreenPower buys electricity from the state’s 151 (mostly rooftop installation) solar generators. Duke anticipates announcing more solar development later this year.

Developing New Energy is also a way to anticipate coming national legislative constraints on Old Energy power production that generates greenhouse gas emissions. Monique Hanis, spokeswoman, Solar Energy Industries Association: "It's a way to hedge that legislation and costs…"

Sign the petition demanding action from Congress on behalf of New Energy at Support Renewable Energy Tax Credits

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Duke Energy to buy solar power from SunEdison
May 22, 2008 (Triangle Business Journal)
and
Duke is sunny on solar power; Utility agrees to buy planned facility’s entire electricity output
Bruce Henderson, May 22, 2008 (Charlotte Observer)
and
Duke plugs into Davidson solar farm
Michael Hewlett, May 22, 2008 (Winston-Salem Journal)

WHO
Duke Energy Carolinas; SunEdison

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WHAT
Duke has contracted to buy all of the 16 megawatt production capacity of the planned SunEdison Davidson County solar photovoltaic (PV) installation, to be the largest PV installation in the U.S.

WHEN
Construction on the SunEdison project will begin in 2009. It is scheduled to begin operation in 2010-11. The contract with Duke runs 20 years.

click thru to live feed on the NC Zoo solar installation

WHERE
- The PV installation will cover 100 to 300 acres at an as yet undesignated spot in North Carolina’s Davidson County. A 2,400 acre industrial megasitealong Interstate 85 is considered a likely location.
- SunEdison is based in Maryland.

WHY
- The 16-megawatt installation will consist of 36 individual installations linked together.
- SunEdison will build and operate the facility. It expects to spend $173 million on the project.
- North Carolina tax credit incentives for solar installations put it in the top 10 states for favorable New Energy policy.
- The project will add 80 construction jobs and 3 full-time installation jobs in a region hard hit by job losses.
- It will also add significant property tax revenues without requiring new roads, schools or services and without adding pollution, noise or water consumption as Old Energy power plants would.

Knoxville, Tennessee - across the border from the Carolinas - has also caught the solar energy bug. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Keith Trent, head of strategy, policy and regulatory issues, Duke Energy: "Today's agreement, coupled with other significant initiatives across our company, clearly demonstrates that renewable energy has an important place in our power-generation portfolio…"
- Steve Kalland, director, the N.C. Solar Center: "Without Senate 3, we wouldn't be talking to SunEdison…"
- Molly Diggins, director, North Carolina Sierra Club: "It shows (the state law) is working, and it's a highly visible step toward a renewable-energy economy…"