CHARLOTTE – The City of Charlotte has become the first municipality to execute a renewable power agreement under Duke Energy’s Green Source Advantage (GSA) program.
The result: the chance to offset a portion of the energy supplied to its municipal operations with renewable energy. Power will come from a new solar plant.
“The solar energy project is expected to save the City nearly $2 million in energy expenses over 20 years and will improve air quality in the region by reducing harmful pollution,” the City of Charlotte said when the project was initially approved in Feburary. ” In addition, it is expected to create 428 jobs in the region, produce enough electricity that equates to powering 10,000 homes annually, and reduce carbon emissions equivalent to removing 12,000 passenger vehicles from the road.”
Cost of the project was not disclosed.
Under a 20-year power purchase agreement, Duke Energy will secure zero carbon power to partially offset the city of Charlotte’s energy demand.
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“Our customers want more options to secure renewable energy and the Green Source Advantage makes that happen,” said Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president.
The 35-megawatt (MW) solar facility will be builk along Tomlin Mill Road near Statesville, in Iredell County. That’s power for some 10,000 homes or 220 homes per megawatt of solar-produced energy, according to a Duke Energy spokesperson.
The City will partner with Carolina Solar Energy, a North Carolina-based solar energy company, and Ecoplexus, an international solar energy company with offices in Durham, to build the solar farm, which is expected to be fully operational in 2022.
The GSA program is an outgrowth of 2017 solar legislation in North Carolina. In 2015, Duke Energy’s pilot program for GSA – the Green Source Rider – had companies like Google and Cisco participate.
The GSA allows large customers to offset its power purchases by securing renewable energy from projects connected to the Duke Energy grid. The customer may keep the renewable energy certificates (RECs) from the projects and use the energy purchased to satisfy sustainability or carbon-free goals.
Charlotte and the solar developer agreed on the specific project and additional costs associated with energy from the facility. Other Duke Energy customers will not pay for any part of the project.
Overall, 600 MW of capacity is available under the Green Source Advantage program for large Duke Energy customers in North Carolina.
Currently, Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, maintains more than 3,300 MW of solar power on its energy grid in North Carolina and operates 40 solar facilities.
