The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has approved a Duke Energy customer pilot program that makes it easier for businesses, schools and nonprofits to have solar energy at their facilities.
Under the program, these eligible customers lease a solar energy facility from Duke Energy for a period of up to 20 years, while Duke Energy installs, operates, owns and maintains the facility. Customers would receive all of the kilowatt-hour output of the solar energy equipment through a net-metering arrangement. It gives customers the advantages for solar power 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,” said Stan Pinegar, Duke Energy state president for Indiana.
Initial capacity is limited to a total of 10 megawatts for eligible customers within the Duke Energy Indiana service territory.
All costs associated with the voluntary program will be borne by participating customers only, so that non-participating customers are not impacted.
This program joins the company’s other efforts to promote clean, renewable solar power, including building and operating a 17-megawatt (MW) solar plant at a southern Indiana naval base and purchasing up to 20 MW of solar power from four solar sites that generate up to 5 MW each.
In addition, Duke Energy is investing in battery storage technology in Indiana in the town of Nabb and at Camp Atterbury. The company is also 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.
Other renewable programs include the company’s GoGreen Indiana program, which gives customers the ability to support the development of green power sources. Customers can purchase a minimum of two 100-kilowatt-hour (kWh) blocks of green power for $1.80 per month. The 200-kWh commitment equates to about 20 percent of an average residential customer’s energy use and helps to avoid 4,800 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
And the current upgrade and modernization of the company’s nearly 50-year-old Markland Hydro Station near Florence, Ind., along the Ohio River, will ensure our customers can continue to reap the benefits of low-cost, carbon-free electric generation for years to come.