Duke Energy is to develop 270MW of photovoltaic capacity in North Carolina in southeast US, following a competitive tender.
Under the state’s Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy (CPRE) programme a total of 602MW of capacity was awarded, comprising 14 utility-scale photovoltaic projects.
Duke will develop six of these.
Most of the facilities are targeted to be online around the end of 2020, though dates may vary depending upon local approvals and any construction delays.
The CPRE programme, implemented under the 2017 Competitive Energy Solutions for North Carolina law, sets out a competitive bidding framework for solar.
Under the rules, projects can be built anywhere on the Duke Energy system in North or South Carolina. The bids can come from any company, including Duke Energy, and can be in the form of power purchase agreements, utility self-developed facilities or utility asset acquisitions.
From the procurement round 10 projects will be based in North Carolina and four in South Carolina.
Of the 14 solar projects two include battery storage, though Duke Energy is not developing these two.
Through its subsidiaries Duke Energy will develop a 69MW site in Catawba County, a 25MW site in Gaston County, a 50MW site in Cleveland County, a 22.6MW site in Surry County, another 22.6MW facility in Cabarrus/Stanly Counties and an 80MW facility in Onslow County, all in North Carolina.
According to Accion Group, which independently administered the solicitation process, customers will see savings of around $375 million over the 20-year contract period versus the company’s ‘avoided cost’, the price at which many solar contracts had been set prior to the CPRE programme.
Accion Group’s Harry Judd said: “There was robust interest in the CPRE programme, and the selected projects will provide 20 years of cost-effective energy to the Duke Energy system.
“Given the response, we are expecting the next phase of the programme to also bring cost savings to customers.”
The 14 projects represent the most competitive of the 78 that were submitted when bidding opened last July. The process used was approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) to select projects that would deliver the greatest cost and system benefits to customers.
“As solar energy expands in the Carolinas, the competitive bidding process will lead to better prices and more geographic diversity of projects,” said Duke Energy renewables and business development senior vice president and president Rob Caldwell.
“Duke Energy companies will complete six of the 14 winning projects – a strong reflection of how competitive we are in the open market at building renewable energy projects,” he added.
Duke Energy and the winning bidders will execute contracts for the projects over the next few months. Once the contracting process is complete, Duke Energy and Accion Group will publish a report in mid-2019 of all projects to be filed with the NCUC.