- Facility is first of 10 solar sites that are part of company’s new community solar program.
- Enrolled income-qualified customers will see guaranteed savings on their program costs every month.
PVTIME – Duke Energy announced on June 10 that the completion of its first community solar site in Hardee County, Fla., in its drive to make more solar power available for all customers in Florida.
The Fort Green Renewable Energy Center is the first of 10 solar sites, totaling 750 megawatts (MW), that are part of the company’s new community solar program, Clean Energy Connection.
Through the program, Duke Energy Florida customers can subscribe to solar power and earn credits toward their electricity bills without having to install or maintain their own equipment.
“Bringing cleaner resources onto the grid is important to our customers and our company,” said Duke Energy Florida State President Melissa Seixas. “By subscribing to the Clean Energy Connection program and supporting solar sites like this one, our customers are joining a community that is helping drive Florida to a cleaner energy future.”
The 74.9-MW facility was built on approximately 500 acres of repurposed mining land in Hardee County, Fla. The project consists of nearly 265,000 solar panels, utilizing a fixed-tilt racking system that will produce enough carbon-free energy to effectively power more than 23,000 average-sized homes at peak production.
The second Clean Energy Connection site, Bay Trail Renewable Energy Center in Citrus County, is expected to begin supporting Clean Energy Connection subscriptions later this summer.
Launched in April 2022, the Clean Energy Connection program allows customers to subscribe to kilowatt (kW) blocks of solar power from the company’s Clean Energy Connection solar portfolio. The monthly subscription fee will help pay for the cost of construction and operation of the solar power plants and is conveniently added to a customer’s regular electric bill.
The monthly subscription fee is fixed at $8.35 per kW. A customer with average usage of 1,000 kWh/month could subscribe to approximately 5 kW to cover their full usage. Subscribers receive bill credits based on their subscription size and the amount of solar energy that is produced by the Clean Energy Connection solar facilities each month.
The bill credit rate for the first 36 months of the program participation will be 4 cents per kWh (kilowatt-hour), and then starting with the 37th month of continuous enrollment, the bill credit rate increases by 1.5% every year. This bill credit amount varies each month with the actual solar energy produced, where it may be greater during the months with more direct sunlight.
The program sets aside 26 MW for income-qualified customers who participate in government subsidy programs or Duke Energy’s low-income energy efficiency program, Neighborhood Energy Saver.
For income-qualified customers, the fixed monthly $9.03 credit per kW subscribed will always be higher than the fixed monthly $8.35 subscription fee per kW subscribed.
Since the bill credits are greater than the subscription fee, income-qualified customers will continue to save each month for as long as they subscribe to the program.
The average subscription amount for income-qualified customers (5 kW) results in approximately $42/year in bill savings.
Subscriptions are associated with all solar plants in the program. Customers do not need to live near a facility to enroll, as the program brings new solar generation to the larger grid, which lowers the emissions profile of Duke Energy’s electric service in all communities.
