Duke Energy to build 400 mini solar power plants
“Solar and wind are both going to be key parts of our strategy going forward,” Rogers told reporters following the company’s annual meeting.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission issued a decision allowing Duke Energy to proceed with its $50 million proposal to install solar panels on the roofs and grounds of homes, schools, office buildings, shopping malls, warehouses and industrial plants, starting later this year.
Collectively, the solar sites will generate enough electricity to power 1,300 homes.
The electricity will flow directly from the solar sites to the electrical grid that serves all customers.
Duke EnergyÂ’s solar initiative will be among the nationÂ’s first and largest demonstrations of distributed generation, in which electricity is produced at numerous micro generating sites rather than at a large, centralized, traditional power plant.
Duke Energy will own and maintain the solar panels during their expected 25-year lifespan. The company also will own the electricity generated.
It will pay a rental fee to property owners who host the panels for use of their roofs or land, based on the size of the installation and amount of electricity generated at any given site.
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Florida Court Blocks Push to Break Electricity Monopolies
MIAMI - Florida’s top court ruled against a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed customers to pick their electricity provider, threatening monopolies held by NextEra Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp.
In a ruling Thursday, the court said the petition’s language is “misleading” and doesn’t comply with requirements to be included on the 2020 ballot. The measure’s sponsor, Citizens for Energy Choice, said the move ends the initiative.
“While we were confident in our plan to gather the remaining signatures required, we cannot overcome this last obstacle,” the group’s chair, Alex Patton, said in a statement.
The proposed measure was one of…
