A request for proposals (RfP) to build 300MW of solar power plants in North Carolina issued by US electric power holding company Duke Energy has been oversubscribed by almost three times.
The company, responsible for transmission, generation and distribution of electricity as well as natural gas, issued its RfP in mid-February for photovoltaic plants of over 5MW generation capacity. Only plants already in Duke Energy’s queue of projects for interconnection as of 13 February 2014 were considered.
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Selected plants must be constructed and brought online by the end of 2015, to allow for full utilisation of state energy tax credit and federal Investment Tax Credit. Duke Energy says it hopes to select projects and complete negotiations with successful parties by 1 October this year.
The added PV generation capacity will assist Duke Energy in meeting North Carolina’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS).
Duke Energy is also currently involved in a dispute over a coal ash spill which took place in North Carolina in mid-February. According to US news outlets, including CBS News, up to 70 miles of the Dan River was coated with “toxic sludge.” On 1 April the New York Times reported that the company had asked a judge to “prevent citizens groups from taking part in any action that would make it clean up nearly three dozen coal ash pits in the state.”