Developers, contractors and renewable-energy advocates see Duke Energy Carolinas putting the squeeze on the local solar industry.
Independent solar companies say they can’t even get in the door to negotiate with the Charlotte energy giant.
“It’s not difficult to do a deal with them,” says Richard Harkrader of Carolina Solar Energy in Durham. “It’s impossible.”
Critics say that’s slowing the growth of the nascent solar industry despite major efforts by state and Charlotte economic developers to encourage it. Ultimately, fewer projects for local developers means fewer clean-energy jobs created in the region.
Duke has relied on buying power from a single, large solar farm and owning additional solar projects itself. That has often pushed local developers east or to the Asheville area, where Raleigh-based Progress Energy Carolinas has a different business model.
Progress does not plan to own and operate projects. And the projects it buys power from are much smaller than Duke’s. So a number of developers have gained agreements to sell solar power to Progress.
In Charlotte, Optima Engineering founder Keith Pehl says all 17 of the independent commercial solar projects his company brought to Duke Energy in the past two years foundered on failed power-purchase negotiations.
