US electric power and natural gas company Duke Energy plans to enable customers to cover their power usage from renewable sources only.
As part of its expanded Green Source Advantage (GSA) programme, customers can contract for up to 100% of their energy use coming from renewables. Previously, the programme limited renewables to about 30% of total energy use. Also, customers can work directly with Duke Energy or independent developers for their long-term purchase of renewable energy.
According to Duke Energy, up to 4,000MW of capacity will be available – 10 times more than the current capacity.
Customers of Duke Energy will also be able to combine energy storage with their projects, allowing them to align the production of renewable energy with their energy load. Duke Energy has proposed a new 10-year avoided cost bill credit option in addition to the existing hourly, 2-year and 5-year options.
The programme will allow large customers to offset their power purchases by securing renewable energy from projects connected to the Duke Energy grid.
“Many of our large business customers seek renewable power sources and are making decarbonisation a long-term part of their business plans. We are proud to offer them a wide range of options, including the ability to increase their hourly use with carbon-free energy in one of the country’s first time-aligned clean-energy programmes,” said Lon Huber, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of pricing and customers solutions.
In addition, Duke Energy has also proposed another programme: Clean Energy Impact. It will be suitable for customers who want to claim a certain percentage of renewable energy through environmental attribute purchases to support corporate sustainability goals. The programme will also feature locally sourced renewable energy certificates and month-to-month contracts with no long-term commitments.
Duke Energy added that this programme would also be suitable residential customers since they can purchase renewable energy to match their energy use at the level of their choosing.