2012: A year for wind and solar investment
Renewable energy is playing an increasingly important role in how Duke Energy provides electricity to businesses and households across the U.S.
Between the investments made by Duke Energy Renewables and our regulated businesses, the company’s solar and wind energy resources can serve about a half-million homes.
Duke Energy Renewables
Duke Energy Renewables added nearly 650 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar capacity across the U.S. in 2012, an all-time high for our nonregulated renewable energy business.
This business has matured in just a few years. Since it began in 2007, Duke Energy Renewables has invested more than $2.5 billion in renewable energy and now owns over 1,700 MW of wind and solar generation capacity.
In 2012, Duke Energy forged a joint-venture partnership with Sumitomo, a 400-year-old Japanese company, to build two Kansas wind projects (Ironwood and Cimarron II). This lowered each company’s financial investment, and provides enough wind capacity to power about 90,000 Kansas homes.
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that’s certainly true for the company’s renewable energy ventures. At Los Vientos I and II, we built and began operating more than 400 MW of wind power capacity in 2012. These are now the largest wind farms in our portfolio.
In 2012, Duke Energy Renewables also completed the acquisition of Outland Energy Services, a Minnesota-based company specializing in wind power facility operations and maintenance services. Renamed Duke Energy Renewable Services, the service provider is helping Duke Energy Renewables more effectively and efficiently maintain its approximately 1,600-MW wind energy fleet — and those capabilities can be marketed to other wind farm operators as well.
In addition, in 2012 Duke Energy Renewables completed the 12-MW Washington White Post solar facility near Bath, N.C., and acquired one solar project (Gato Montes) and completed another (Black Mountain) in Arizona, adding 14 MW in that state.
Regulated utilities
In the Carolinas, the company’s regulated utilities began purchasing an additional 106 MW of solar energy in 2012, for a total of 150 MW of solar across the two states. Our remaining regulated service areas started purchasing an additional 10 MW of solar energy in 2012, for a total of 25 MW across those states. As solar costs decline, we expect this rapid growth, as we’ve seen particularly in the Carolinas, to continue.
Customer participation in Duke Energy Progress’ and Duke Energy Florida’s innovative SunSense® solar photovoltaic (PV) programs also grew in 2012. These programs, which began in 2011, provide incentives to qualifying customers who install solar generation. Today, SunSense has approximately 600 participants.
In Florida, solar PV panels have been installed through the SunSense program at 38 schools, nine of which also received battery backup systems. In addition, the University of Florida was the recipient of a 100-kilowatt solar PV array, based on its commitment to offer renewable energy education and resource tools to its students.
In South Carolina, as part of a merger commitment to our communities, Duke Energy has given the first half of a $2 million contribution to Palmetto Clean Energy (PaCE). PaCE is a nonprofit program designed to improve the environment by promoting the development of renewable energy resources in South Carolina.
We also fulfilled a merger commitment of $2 million to NC GreenPower, an independent, nonprofit program dedicated to providing more renewable energy sources in North Carolina.
Through programs and efforts like these, Duke Energy is well-positioned to meet state renewable energy standards and effectively manage the costs customers pay for renewable energy.