Duke Energy plans to deliver more solar in 2019

Duke Energy said Tuesday that it plans to build on the success of its solar power programs in 2018 to deliver solar power to more North Carolina and South Carolina customers in 2019.

“Combined with constructive legislation, our programs have solar energy growing in both North Carolina and South Carolina,” Rob Caldwell, president of Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology, said. “The response from customers has been strong. We expect demand and adoption to grow further as we roll out additional solar programs.”

Duke’s $62 million solar rebate program for residential, commercial and nonprofit customers in North Carolina hit capacity limits for residential and nonresidential customers and helped 1,700 North Carolina customers switch to solar last year, the company said. The rebate allotment for residential customers has already been met for 2019. The company plans to continue offering these rebates over the next three years.

Duke launched a $50 million solar rebate program for South Carolina in October 2015. Since the program’s launch, the company has added approximately 7,000 private solar customers in the state.

In 2018, Duke Energy connected more than 500 megawatts (MW) of solar energy capacity to the Carolinas’ system.

The company launched a competitive bidding process for new solar capacity last year that seeks to add 680 MW of new solar capacity across both states in 2019. Seventy-eight projects bid 3,900 MW of solar capacity in the first tranche. Winners will be selected later this year.

Duke Energy also began offering solar leasing to commercial customers in the Carolinas and launched its Shared Solar program in 2018. Customers who sign up to receive solar energy through the Shared Solar program receive a monthly bill credit for the value of the energy produced by their subscription size in the facility.

The company is waiting on approval for its Green Source Advantage program in both states. The program would allow industrial customers to negotiate directly with solar developers to add more energy to the grid, with no cost to other customer classes.