Duke Energy (DUK, Financial), the largest electric power holding company in the United States, is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Duke Energy started as the Catawba Power Company in 1900 with the construction of a hydroelectric power station at India Hook Shoals along the Catawba River near India Hook, South Carolina, by Dr. Walker Gill Wylie and his brother. In 1905, James Buchanan Duke came on board to invest in the Southern Power Company.
In 1997 Duke Power merged with PanEnergy, a natural gas company, to form Duke Energy.
Duke Energy gets ready to go solar
Duke Energy has acquired a majority stake in the American company, REC Solar, installer of solar electric systems. Duke plans to invest up to $225 million in REC Solar’s commercial projects.
Headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California, REC Solar offers commercial-scale customers sales and financing process and has set up above 440 U.S. commercial systems. REC Solar is expected to produce around 82 million kilowatt hours yearly, enough to power about 6,800 homes in North Carolina per year.
The tie-up with Duke Energy will enable REC Solar to streamline its financing system for customers and help it to provide cost-effective energy solutions. REC Solar will be concerned with giving financing choices for commercial-scale customers and look after the manufacturing, retail, technology, agriculture and government segments.
Duke Energy’s current generation capacity from renewable resources is around 10%, and the company hopes that the deal with REC will help Duke Energy to be able to reduce energy costs for its consumers and hold up its aspiration of sustainability.
Duke sees a future with clean energy
The tie-in between REC Solar and Duke Energy is a major deal, with Duke planning to add 111 megawatts of solar energy in South Carolina by 2021.
REC Solar's supposed plan is to grow from solar into broader energy services, by providing a range of solutions to help solve and take care of all customers’ energy problems. REC Solar’s role will be to do the development work, and Duke will provide financial support and vend the power or lease the project to the final user.
With this partnership with REC Solar, Duke Energy considers itself right on track with its plan of expansion by owning or contracting 6,000 MW of wind, solar and biomass by 2020. The company also intends to attain 4% to 6% long-term revenue growth by branching out its generation mix and different growth projects.
In the last eight years, Duke Energy, which is the biggest U.S. electric power holder, has invested more than $4 billion in utility- scale renewable ventures. The company’s unwavering renewable expansion tactic in the U.S. is mainly guided to meet environmental regulations. Having authorized the REC business deal with a $225 million investment, one can only suppose that Duke will extend more efforts in legalising solar leases and PPAs in its home states and other regions.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy consumption in the U.S. was around 9.6 quadrillion Btu in 2014, and is predicted to rise to 10.1 quadrillion BTU in 2016. The solar capacity is likely to increase 60% from 2014-end to 2016- end, with California being the hub for producing more capacity. It is obvious that Duke Energy recognizes the significance of competitive solar leasing and acquisition contracts for energy users. With increasing demand for renewable and clean sources of energy, Duke Energy’s concentration on growing its renewable energy foothold seems like a good decision to keep its future prospects shining.
