Some big utility companies are
looking at projects using more renewable
energy. Some are investing in solar on
the rooftops of their customers’ homes. Julie
Grant reports on one of the biggest pilot
projects in the nation:
Transcript
Some big utility companies are
looking at projects using more renewable
energy. Some are investing in solar on
the rooftops of their customers’ homes. Julie
Grant reports on one of the biggest pilot
projects in the nation:
Duke Energy plans to rent 425 rooftops from homeowners
and businesses in North Carolina to install and maintain
solar panels.
Dave Scanzoni is a spokesman for Duke Energy. He says
building a new nuclear or coal plant could take a decade.
But this solar project could contribute electricity to the grid in
just a couple of years.
“Instead of a big, main baseload power plant that we
traditionally think of, we have several hundred small, little
power plants. It’s distributed power plants, a different way to
distribute energy closer to the customer.”
If the project is approved by regulators, the money to pay for
it will come from ratepayers – an 8-cent hike on the average
utility bill.
Other utilities have rooftop solar projects in the works as
power companies begin to experiment to find ways to reduce
carbon emissions.
For The Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.