Duke Energy to install 500 MW of solar power capacity

Duke Energy plans to install 500 megawatts of solar power in Florida over the upcoming decade, which would see the state nearly triple the current installed capacity.

The announcement comes as a coalition pushing the sale of solar energy by businesses and owners of property in Florida moved closer to get its proposal on the ballot for 2016.

Welcoming the move, Stephen Smith a member of the Solar Choice coalition said on Friday that the announcement by Duke was "underwhelming".

A spokesperson for Duke Energy Florida denied any relation between the plans of the utility and the coalition's proposed amendment to the constitution.

Duke Energy, which counts more than 1.7 million customers in Central Florida as also in sections of the Panhandle, expects to have its first solar energy of five megawatts added on its grid by end 2015. Another 30 MW should be ready by 2018.

Duke said in a statement that solar investment would diversify the energy mix of the company and provide customers with additional options to use the renewable energy.

The new solar facilities' locations had not been finalised, and the costs also had not been tied into the programme, Duke said through an email.

Duke Energy Corp has plans to install the additional capacity in the state, by 2024.

The North Carolina-based power company said in its statement that it planned to start construction in Florida this year and hike solar-power capacity by 35 megawatts by 2018.

The state has 234 MW of installed solar-power capacity, making it number 13 in the US, according to Bloomberg.

Duke Energy, with operations in Canada and Latin America besides the US, currently has no solar capacity in Florida. According to Bloomberg data the company ranked third in rooftop solar-power potential, and had been rather slow in adopting solar technology.

According to Duke Energy's state president, Alex Glenn, the company planned to diversify its energy mix and continued to meet the growing energy demands of Florida's expanding economy and increasing population.

He said innovative investments in solar power would present customers with more options to use this form of energy.

Duke was also working on plans to build a power plant that would run on natural gas. The company planned to buy another such plant and the power generated from the two plants would facilitate the retirement of half of its coal-powered plants by 2018.