Progress Energy is asking green energy developers for another round of solar farm bids to help the Raleigh-based electric utility meet its state mandate for renewable energy.
Progress is seeking solar farms sized at 1 megawatt to 3 megawatts. Currently the biggest solar farm in the Triangle is about 2.2 megawatts, located at the Cary campus of software developer SAS.
To date, Progress has contracted for about 9 megawatts of solar energy from independent developers.
Solar developers can take advantage of a range of incentives in this state that can be combined to cover as much as three-fourths of the cost of building a solar farm.
The deadline to submit solar bids to Progress is July 20.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), utilities (electric, natural gas, telephone) and telecommunications. His beat includes such publicly traded companies as Progress Energy, Duke Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, Tekelec, Cisco Systems, AT&T, among others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or 
Comments
This foolishness is because the democrits passed a law
Wed, 06/22/2011 - 12:29 — Platowasrightthat mandates that Progress Energy and Duke Power have to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from "renewable" resources. You and I are paying for this liberal foolishness. Electricity generated via solar cells is FIVE TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE than electricity from a coal fired generator.
Do you like your electric bill? Is it higher than it used to be? Thank the fool liberal democrats that ran the General Assembly last year.