I'd definitely rent my roof. It's not like I use it much anyway :)

HOORAY FOR DUKE ENERGY

Its About Time Somebody Did Something

It must also be mentioned that Duke Energy is planning to build two new natural gas plants and other new coal plants...

"It must also be mentioned that Duke Energy is planning to build two new natural gas plants and other new coal plants..."

Indeed, though it's pretty hard (impossible) to find a big energy company in the US that is just doing solar/wind..

I'm surprised that they are not estimating a better cost per installed watt than $5.00. My sister recently had a system installed at a cost of $2.97 per installed watt. To be sure it was offset by $3.00 per watt from the local utility but still given the 2 to 3 year time frame, the ecomies of scale, the 30 percent ITC, the presumed cost reduction over the next two to three years due to the end of the silicon shortage, and the cost pressures associated with thin film competitors I would expect a price tag of conisederaly less than $100 million for 20MW.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

I'm surprised that they are not estimating a better cost per installed watt than $5.00. My sister recently had a system installed at a cost of $2.97 per installed watt. To be sure it was offset by $3.00 per watt from the local utility but still given the 2 to 3 year time frame, the ecomies of scale, the 30 percent ITC, the presumed cost reduction over the next two to three years due to the end of the silicon shortage, and the cost pressures associated with thin film competitors I would expect a price tag of conisederaly less than $100 million for 20MW.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

I'd love to have a solar panel on my roof.
I'm trying to convince my parents to get one when we get rid of some loans.

To expand on the post a little bit:

Duke Energy is proposing to do this in their regulated service territory. (That's why it needs approval from the regulator.) That means, in essence, that Duke Energy is not paying for these PV installations.

When a regulated utility receives permission to build generation, they are getting permission to earn an essentially fixed rate of return on an investment. Let's say Duke's regulated rate of return is 12% in North Carolina. (Note to Canadians: no hyphen.) That means that over the life of the asset, ratepayers will pay Duke "interest" of 12% on the amount Duke invested in the array. Not only that, but ratepayers will also pay for original cost of the solar panels, again over the life of the array.

Utility commissions are generally tasked with approving only "just and reasonable" electric rates. Solar PV, let's face it, is not cheap-- other generation options, like them or not, would result in lower utility bills. So what makes Duke think this project will pass the J&R standard? Simple: they are obligated to build renewable power generation by the state's legally-mandated RPS.

So what, you say? Solar's good, and it's right that legislators and regulators are forcing big, dirty utilities to supply more renewable power. Hey, I would love to have a solar array on my roof, they're neat.

But here's the thing: ratepayers will bear this burden. Not just the high initial investment-- which is many times the cost per unit of output of many gas or coal options. Ratepayers will also pay high "interest" on that high investment.

And that's fine, for many ratepayers I guess. I could afford it, sure. But what about those of Duke's ratepayers that already find their power bills to be a stretch? Old folks, poor folks, small businesses, nonprofit organizations?

My point is simply: this is expensive power, and the costs will be borne not by some big company but by regular people. Someone pays for this stuff, and it sure isn't Duke Energy.

When Duke Energy cancels their plans to build the Cliftside coal fired power plant I might believe that they are sincere about saving the planet. Until then this solar panel project is nothing but PR with the goal of distracting us from the tons of CO2 and mercury their new plant will produce.

"It must also be mentioned that Duke Energy is planning to build two new natural gas plants and other new coal plants..."

Would you prefer to freeze to death in the dark?

Solar and wind will likely NEVER meet 100% of our needs.

Let's hope they scrap the coal part of this, but you have to be realistic, companies and houses need energy.

This is such a huge deal! Imagine a major energy company comitting to something like this. How amazing is that? I think this bodes well for the future of renewable energy.

Awesome! Let's post an update when they're ready to sign-up locations.

I hate to rain on the parade, but $5/W is a crazy price. It is a waste of money and not competitive with other form of elec. They are spending $38,000 per home served by PV.

Much better to invest in wind farms, which are competitive with current (polluting) means of production. I can buy 100% of my electricity from wind from my local utility (nstar) for an additional $7/mo, which is typically an additional 1 cent per kWh.

To match the price of this solar installation, it would take about 500 years.