Sharing Solar: A Sweeping Climate Proposal

Background

With the global climate crisis at a point of desperation, power bills soaring and Duke Energy stifling renewables while aggressively expanding fossil fuels, clean energy group NC WARN and allies are calling for state leaders to finally consider – instead of suppressing – the fastest, cheapest and most equitable way to phase out climate-wrecking power plants.

NC WARN is proposing a major shift for the state. The 36-year-old nonprofit says the costs and benefits of local solar-plus-storage (SPS) – including lower power bills – should be shared by all customers the same way we all pay for polluting power. There would be no up-front cost, plus financial incentives for adding solar power and battery storage on homes, businesses and others.

NC WARN released a two-page summary of its “Sharing Solar” proposal. It says locating solar panels and storage batteries where power is used, particularly rooftops and parking areas, will generate jobs in towns and cities across the state, add protections during emergencies, and help all customers avoid annual rate increases while reducing climate pollution instead of expanding fossil fuels. The proposal calls for prioritizing low-income customers.

NC WARN filed engineer Konidena’s testimony critical of Duke’s proposed Carbon Plan for gambling on high-risk, climate-wrecking approaches for future power generation. He also explains how other utilities are using solar-plus-storage to create “virtual power plants” that help phase out fossil fuels and save millions. 

The NCUC already approved Duke Energy’s plans to expand solar power many years from now. Duke assumes this would be larger-than-ever solar farms near rural communities, preceded by billions of dollars in new transmission projects that would drive up the cost of the solar. NC WARN argues that most of it should be local SPS, where the benefits of generating and storing power where it’s used could begin right away, expand quickly and be shared statewide.

Jim Warren, director of NC WARN said at a press conference, “A key hindrance for expanding rooftop solar has long been the up-front cost. But NC electricity users don’t pay a large up-front cost to build giant fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. We all share the cost of kilowatt-hours on our monthly power bills, and polls show that, overwhelmingly, North Carolinians and businesses would rather be buying clean power.”

Warren said the new proposal will launch a new statewide campaign with clean energy allies to lift up rooftop solar just as Duke tries to bury it. Scores of solar companies and advocacy groups have already called to expand local solar instead of bulldozing farms and forests under Duke’s plan. A verdict is expected by the NC Court of Appeals in a case where NC WARN and allies seek to reverse a ruling that allowed Duke Energy to stunt the economics of rooftop solar.

Bobby Jones, President of the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition, said at the press conference that his group is excited about the possibilities of the shared solar proposal. “It’s exactly what we need to address our climate and energy crisis.  Right now, we’re at the mercy of the Duke monopoly and its unclean energy … and what they charge us for it. We’re paying for our own demise.”

His group is joining NC WARN, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP and Robeson County’s Seeds of Hope as intervenors in the Carbon Plan docket. The allies will promote local SPS and challenge Duke’s plans for billions in new transmission corridors through disadvantaged rural communities. Duke remains secretive about where it would seek to locate those corridors.

Sharing Solar will help all customers avoid constant rate hikes caused by the tens of billions of dollars Duke wants to spend on high-risk power plants and new transmission. SPS also adds much-needed resiliency for all power users – such as emergency facilities – during outages. 

“Not enough roof space”?

Shared Solar would benefit all Duke Energy customers – not just those with solar on their home, business or nonprofit – by improving grid resilience and stopping the expansion of fracked gas. 

Duke Energy and others have long claimed rooftop solar can’t help slow the climate crisis. In fact, North Carolina has twice the practical space (pg. 6) needed to meet climate goals on rooftops, parking areas, contaminated brownfields and vacant land close to towns and cities, according to federal data.

NC WARN has been proposing SPS since 2017. With the new payment approach, the group  says it’s way past time for the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) and Duke Energy to finally agree to a fair consideration of local SPS – especially because Duke can profit from it.

NC WARN says Duke leaders’ “pro-Carbon Plan” would ensure that North Carolina remains a top driver of the climate crisis. Thousands of state residents are still reeling from past superstorms even as scientists warn that the coming hurricane season could be our worst ever.

Jim Warren added, “Duke Energy leaders and state officials simply must, finally, break out of the years of appalling pretense that North Carolina is ‘making a clean transition’. The climate situation is desperate, this state is failing its duty, and local solar could quickly begin to change that.”