Duke Energy moving on solar plant
The Charlotte-based company filed an application with the N.C Utilities Commission for the two-year plan, which the commission would have to approve.
The cost would add about 25 cents to the average monthly N.C. power bill, Duke said. The system would generate more than 16 megawatts, which would provide electricity for the power grid.
In contrast, Duke's coal-fired power unit under construction at its Cliffside facility in the Blue Ridge foothills would produce 800 megawatts. The utility is embracing some renewable energy projects as it prepares for a new state requirement for major utilities to produce 12.5 percent of their power by 2021 from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind.
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The 39-year-old is part of a landowner consortium that is hosting the sprawling 300-megawatt Blackspring Ridge Wind Project in southeastern Alberta.
He receives regular lease payments from the $600-million project that came online in 2014, even though none of the 166 towering wind turbines that surround his land are actually on it.
His lease payments stand to rise, however, when and if the…