PITTSBORO — Local elected officials are calling on Duke Energy’s CEO to work with them to install solar power matched with energy storage at North Carolina schools.
Those leaders say two divisions of Duke Energy are providing such solar+storage systems to schools in other states at no upfront cost and with millions in savings and they’re asking the same here.
“We are urging Duke CEO Lynn Good to provide those same benefits in the corporation’s home state,” said Durham County Board of Commissioners Chair Wendy Jacobs. “It’s what we all must do for our schools and to help slow climate change.”
“This is just an idea that a small group has been discussing,” said Chatham County Commissioner Diana Hales. “Why not at least ask Duke to come to the table and let’s talk about it? Let’s have a conversation and we’ll take it from there. It never hurts to ask. Anything we can do to reduce carbon dioxide is a good thing.”
Hales said she hopes any discussion with Duke may yield a pilot program in North Carolina, starting with one or two schools.
A group of 34 leaders of local governments and school systems in the region, including the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, say they will recruit colleagues across the state to endorse the request that was outlined in an open letter sent last week to Duke Energy’s CEO.
“We need Duke Energy’s help meeting our clean energy targets,” Hales said, “and we are eager to work in partnership with the company. Bringing low-cost, clean power to the state’s schools is clearly something that can and must be done.”
Those making the request of Duke are calling the fledgling proposal the “N.C. Solar Schools Initiative.”
“We think the idea is a no-brainer,” Orange County Commissioner Mark Marcoplos said, quoted in a press release issued by Durham County Government.
Their request, its proponents say, is win-win, saying it would earn a profit for Duke Energy, save the school systems money, and be cheaper and more beneficial to the people of North Carolina than building new fossil-fuel power plants.
Fifteen cities and seven counties in North Carolina have made commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and boost the use of clean energy, including Chatham County.
Advances in battery technologies allow renewable power to be stored for use when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. That trend is predicted to accelerate, according to industry experts including the Rocky Mountain Institute, the non-profit founded in 1982 aimed at, according to their website, finding “market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables.”
Outgoing Apex Town Councilman Bill Jensen said, “It’s time for North Carolina and Duke Energy to follow the lead of other states that are taking advantage of the rapidly falling costs of renewables and storage and are choosing those technologies over building new gas-fired power plants.”
One solar+storage system installed by Duke subsidiaries in California will earn a profit for the corporation while saving the school $2.2 million over 25 years.
Durham County Commissioner Heidi Carter said: “Savings like that would free up valuable resources that are desperately needed in the classroom, especially at under-resourced schools, not to mention providing power during outages for schools in Down East communities that have been particularly hard-hit by recent storms.”
The group has asked to meet in February with leadership of Duke Energy’s renewables efforts.
NC WARN, the Durham-based clean energy non-profit, is providing technical assistance to the local leaders.
Randall Rigsbee can be reached at rigsbee@chathamnr.com.