Duke Energy wants to give new life to older solar sites by adding batteries.
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These are so-called “legacy” sites have been operating for about a decade. They were built under favorable contracts from the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, which were limited to roughly 10 years.
The solar on these sites is designed to last for decades, so Duke Energy hopes by adding new battery storage to the sites it can secure another favorable 10-year contract.
This would encourage developers to keep these solar farms running, avoid having to build new power plants or find sites for new solar farms and potentially save ratepayers money through avoided costs.
The plan still needs approval from the North Carolina Utilities Commission which will hold hearings on the request in February.
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