Indiana regulators approve Duke Energy plan to give customers easier access to solar power
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved an initiative by Duke Energy designed to make it easier for businesses, schools, and nonprofits to have solar energy at their facilities.
Through this program, customers can lease a solar energy facility from Duke Energy — which Duke installs, operates, owns and maintains — for up to 20 years. Customers would receive solar energy with minimal upfront costs and no maintenance fees.
“This program gives our business and nonprofit customers, including schools and local governments, another option to incorporate clean, renewable energy into their energy mix through a cost-effective leasing arrangement,” Stan Pinegar, Duke Energy state president for Indiana, said.
Initial capacity is limited to a total of 10 megawatts for customers in the service territory. Duke Energy Indiana provides about 6,600 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 840,000 customers in a 23,000-square-mile service area.
The participating customers bear all costs associated with this voluntary program. In other words, no non-participating customers will be impacted.
Among its other efforts to promote solar power, Duke Energy Indiana built a 17-megawatt (MW) solar plant at a southern Indiana naval base. In addition, the company invested is funding $1.5 million in research at the Battery Innovation Center at the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center to study how battery storage can maximize renewable power sources.
