Duke Energy News

Company Has Announced Nearly 800 Megawatts of New Wind Projects in 2011

For the second time in a month, Duke Energy is announcing plans to build a large-scale wind farm in Texas.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, will build, own and operate the 202-megawatt (MW) Los Vientos II Windpower Project and sell the electricity and renewable energy credits it generates to Austin Energy through a 25-year agreement.

“Purchasing zero-emission electricity from Duke Energy’s Los Vientos II Windpower Project represents yet another example of Austin Energy’s commitment to investing in affordable renewable power,” said Duke Energy Renewables President Greg Wolf.

“For Duke Energy, the Los Vientos II project will help us put an additional 770 megawatts of wind power into operation in 2012. This will bring Duke Energy’s total wind power capacity to nearly 1,800 megawatts – enough to power more than half a million homes,” he said. Read more

Duke Energy will build a new wind farm in north-central Pennsylvania and sell all of the renewable electricity it generates to Delaware Municipal Electric Corp. (DEMEC) under a 25-year agreement.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, will build, own and operate the 69-megawatt (MW) Laurel Hill Windpower Project in Lycoming County. The wind farm will consist of 30 Siemens wind turbines, each capable of generating 2.3 MW. Laurel Hill will be capable of generating enough electricity to power more than 20,000 homes.

Duke Energy Renewables started construction of the Laurel Hill Windpower Project in August and plans to achieve commercial operation by September 2012.

“The remarkable growth we’ve seen in Duke Energy Renewables’ wind and solar business lines this year is a testament to customers like DEMEC that understand the long-term value of affordable renewable energy,” said Duke Energy Renewables President Greg Wolf. Read more

Duke Energy announced plans today to build a large-scale wind farm in Willacy County, Texas, and sell the electricity it generates to San Antonio-based CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally owned energy utility.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, will build, own and operate the 200-megawatt (MW) Los Vientos I Windpower Project in Willacy County, approximately 120 miles south of Corpus Christi and 20 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

Duke Energy will sell all of the output from the wind farm and associated renewable energy credits to CPS Energy under the terms of a 25-year agreement. CPS Energy already buys all of the electricity generated at Duke Energy Renewables’ 14-MW (16-MW direct current) Blue Wing Solar Project in San Antonio. The Blue Wing solar farm, which consists of approximately 215,000 photovoltaic panels, achieved commercial operation in November 2010. Read more

For the second time in a month, Duke Energy announced plans today to build a large-scale wind farm in Kansas.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, will build, own and operate the 131-megawatt (MW) Cimarron II Windpower Project in Gray County – approximately 200 miles west of Wichita.

The company purchased the fully developed and contracted wind power project from Silver Spring, Md.-based CPV Renewable Energy Company. Project acquisition terms were not disclosed. CPV will continue to own the first phase of the wind project – Cimarron I.

Kansas City Power & Light will purchase all of the electricity and associated renewable energy credits produced by Cimarron II under the terms of a 20-year agreement (originally announced by CPV and KCP&L in May).

Duke Energy Renewables plans to start construction of the Cimarron II Windpower Project in the fall of 2011 and achieve commercial operation by June 2012. The wind farm, which will be sited on 16,000 acres of leased farmland, will be capable of generating enough electricity to power nearly 40,000 homes. Read more

Duke Energy will acquire a 20-megawatt wind farm in operation in Wisconsin.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, agreed to purchase the Shirley Windpower Project from a subsidiary of Central Hudson Enterprises Corporation on May 24. The wind farm is located on approximately 500 acres of leased land in Glenmore, roughly 30 miles southeast of Green Bay.

The Shirley Windpower Project, which began commercial operation in December 2010, sells all of its output and associated renewable energy credits to Wisconsin Public Service Corporation under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement. The eight Nordex 2.5-megawatt (MW) wind turbines that comprise the Shirley Windpower Project are capable of generating enough electricity to power approximately 6,000 homes.

“Our strategic acquisition of the Shirley Windpower Project not only helps us reach the 1,000-megawatt milestone, it serves as a springboard for growth in a new region of the United States,” said Greg Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables. Read more

Duke Energy will use 73 Siemens wind turbines, each capable of generating 2.3 megawatts of emission-free electricity, to build its first wind farm in Kansas.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, will build, own and operate the 168-megawatt (MW) Ironwood Windpower Project in Ford County – approximately 150 miles west of Wichita. Topeka-based Westar Energy will purchase all of the electricity and associated renewable energy credits produced by the site under the terms of a 20-year agreement.

Duke Energy Renewables plans to start construction of the Ironwood Windpower Project in the fall of 2011. The wind farm – expected to reach commercial operation by mid-2012 – will be capable of generating enough electricity to power more than 50,000 homes.

“The Ironwood Windpower Project, which will help Westar deliver clean energy to its customers for decades to come, marks another milestone for Duke Energy: it’s our first wind farm in Kansas and will put us well over 1,000 megawatts of wind power capacity in the U.S.,” said Greg Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables. Read more

Duke Energy Renewables now owns a 1-megawatt solar farm on the grounds of an elementary school in the southwestern corner of North Carolina.

Approximately 4,400 ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) solar modules on the property of the Martins Creek Elementary School in Murphy, N.C., will generate an estimated 1.3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year – enough to power more than 150 average-sized homes.

Duke Energy Renewables, part of Duke Energy’s Commercial Businesses, acquired Martins Creek Solar N.C., LLC, from ESA Renewables, LLC, in March 2011. ESA Renewables (www.esarenewables.com) designed and built the solar array, and operates it for Duke Energy Renewables. Electricity from the solar farm is sold through Blue Ridge Mountain EMC to the Tennessee Valley Authority, as part of TVA’s Generation PartnersSM program. The site began producing electricity in March.

The PV installation is believed to be the only one of its kind on school property in the state and the third-largest solar farm sited on school property in the U.S. The structure of the 10-year power purchase agreement with TVA through Blue Ridge Mountain EMC enables the elementary school to share in revenue created by electric generation at the site. This revenue roughly equates to the cost of staffing two full-time teachers at the school. Read more

Duke Energy has reached a settlement with the Wyoming Department of Revenue on the company’s 2010 property tax valuation appeal.

The settlement, approved in December 2010 by then-Governor David Freudenthal and the Wyoming Department of Revenue, reflects adjustments to the state’s assessed values assigned to Duke Energy’s four Wyoming wind farms as of Dec. 31, 2009.

The most significant change involves the state’s assessed value of Duke Energy’s Top of the World Windpower Project, near Casper. In its appeal, Duke Energy contended that wind turbines ordered for the 200-megawatt (MW) project but not yet delivered as of Dec. 31, 2009, should not have been included in the company’s property tax assessment. Because the Top of the World project was built and put into commercial operation in 2010, Duke Energy will instead pay property tax on the assessed value of these turbines as part of its 2011 tax bill (covering calendar year 2010).

The Wyoming Department of Revenue also slightly reduced the assessed value of Duke Energy’s 29-MW Happy Jack and 42-MW Silver Sage wind farms in Cheyenne, and its 99-MW Campbell Hill site near Casper. The state agreed to exclude from the 2010 property tax valuation funds set aside by Duke Energy to meet its asset retirement obligations (the costs of decommissioning at the end of each wind farm’s projected life span).

This resolves Duke Energy’s appeals of the 2010 property tax assessments for its Wyoming wind farms, covering assets in the state as of Dec. 31, 2009. Duke Energy’s projects will pay an aggregate of $2.54 million to cover the 2010 tax assessments, instead of $2.77 million, which was based on the state’s original assessments.

In 2011, the company and the Wyoming Department of Revenue will continue their dialogue on wind farm property tax assessments, including which intangible assets should be factored into the valuations.

Duke Energy Renewables, a newly renamed part of Duke Energy’s Commercial Businesses, is a leader in developing innovative renewable energy solutions, including wind, solar and biopower projects, for customers throughout the United States.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.

GreenCo Solutions and North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation will purchase renewable energy certificates and electricity, respectively, from a new solar project Duke Energy is acquiring from SunPower in Hertford County.

Groundbreaking at the 6.4-megawatt (DC) Murfreesboro Solar Project (equivalent to 5 MW AC) is expected this spring. When completed in late 2011, the solar farm will be capable of generating enough electricity to power about 700 average-sized homes.

GreenCo Solutions, a company owned by 22 electric cooperatives, will buy all renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated by the facility to assist its members in meeting their solar power requirement under the state’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS). GreenCo executed a 20-year purchase agreement with Duke Energy Renewables, a newly renamed part of Duke Energy’s unregulated, commercial business.

The electricity produced by the solar farm will be purchased by NCEMC, the power supply organization for the majority of the state’s electric cooperatives, under a 20-year agreement. Read more

Duke Energy and China-based ENN Group announced an agreement today to collaborate on the development of technologies to help build greener cities in China and the United States.

The agreement creates the Future Energy Technology Demonstration Platform and paves the way to exchange knowledge on advanced energy, building and transportation technologies.

ENN is committed to the development and use of clean energy and is constructing China’s first smart energy “eco-city” in Langfang, China, close to Beijing.

Duke will collaborate with ENN to develop the eco city and will adapt what is learned from the eco city development as it deploys clean energy technologies. Read more