Carolina Solar PowerSince 2000, commercial utility rates in the United States have risen 38%. This is not surprising, as America’s utility companies depend on fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — that are vulnerable to fluctuations in all markets.
PV Solar energy has never been as cost-effective as it is today. The cost of PV solar panels is dropping as the solar equipment manufactures ramp up production and attain economies of scale becoming truly competitive with other generation technologies – grid parity.
North Carolina’s Pioneering Renewable Energy and Efficiency Portfolio Standard
On August 20, 2007, North Carolina became the 25th state – and the first and only in the Southeast – to enact a mandatory renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standard (REPS) into law. The REPS requires that 12.5% percentage of the electricity sold at retail by all North Carolina electric utilities be generated by renewable energy resources or replaced by energy efficiency by year 2021.
Solar energy is a key part of the REPS where it enjoys a “set aside” for either solar thermal or solar electric generation. The percentages and milestones for solar are: .02% of sales by 1/1/2010, .07% of sales by 1/1/2012, .14% of sales by 1/1/2015 and finally .20% of sales by 1/1/2018. This will result in approximately 30 MW of new solar generation by 2010 and 300 MW by 2018.