Planning Pool

Sun Edison, North America’s largest solar energy provider, has finally located a suitable property to build a 21 Megawatt solar photovoltaic farm, according to Davidson County Economic Development Commission.

Duke Energy, North Carolina’s largest energy provider, plans to buy all of the output from the $173 million operation. Maryland-based Sun Edison estimates that this Davidson solar farm will be one of the biggest in the United States, larger than the 14 MW Nellis Solar Power Plant. The 21 MW facility is also significant for Sun Edison, who currently has about 67 MW installed in the US. However, on the global scale, the 21 MW facility is overshadowed by a number of Spanish farms.

The Davidson solar power farm will provide power to more than 2,600 homes and will offset 32 million pounds of carbon dioxide after one year of operation. This is equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered annually by about 3,300 acres of pine or fir forest!

In 2007, North Carolina passed a Renewables Portfolio Standard that requires Duke Energy and other utilities to generate 12.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2021. Municipal utilities and electric cooperatives must meet a slightly lower target by 2018 and have to follow slightly different rules. The following list explains how North Carolina will reach the 12.5 percent goal by 2021:

• 2010: 0.02% from solar
• 2012: 3% (including 0.07% from solar + 0.07% from swine waste + 170,000 MWh from poultry waste)
• 2013: 3% (including 0.07% from solar + 0.07% from swine waste + 700,000 MWh from poultry waste
• 2014: 3% (including 0.07% from solar + 0.07% from swine waste + 900,000 MWh from poultry waste)
• 2015: 6% (including 0.14% from solar + 0.14% from swine waste + 900,000 MWh from poultry waste)
• 2018: 10% (including 0.20% from solar + 0.20% from swine waste + 900,000 MWh from poultry waste)
• 2021: 12.5% (including 0.20% from solar + 0.20% from swine waste + 900,000 MWh from poultry waste)

As explained in our smart grids post, Duke Energy is investing $100 million to explore “distributed generation,” which is a mixture of smart grids and local, small-scale power production. Under this distributed generation program, Duke Energy will install and operate solar photovoltaic panels on customers’ rooftops, as well as other locations. Power would then be distributed to individual neighborhoods rather than through one central grid, making the power grid more stable, robust, and efficient.

Does your state have a renewable portfolio standard? The North Carolina Solar Center has a fantastic website to help home and business owners figure out ways to switch to greener energy. You can find the NC Solar Center here.

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