Charlotte-based Duke Energy, one of the biggest energy companies in the country, is is looking to expand its international business.

Duke CEO James Rogers told Bloomberg News that the company is building a hydroelectric power plant in Brazil and boosting power output in Peru. The company wants to create business partnerships with Chinese energy companies to scale larger projects.

Duke has power operations in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru. Latin America accounts for nearly 11.5 percent of the company's total electricity generating capacity of 35,000 megawatts. The assets are a mix of hydroelectric, natural gas, diesel and fuel oil.

North Carolina's electric utilities came out the biggest winners in President Obama's $3.4 billion nationwide investment in Smart Grid technologies. The federal stimulus package announced today will go to 49 states as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

This state's two biggest power companies -- Progress Energy and Duke Energy -- both qualified for maximum awards to upgrade their electricity delivery and power management systems. But much of the money awarded today will be spent by the utilities in other states where they operate.

A Smart Grid is a computerized electricity network with real-time data that operates more efficiently than a standard electro-mechanical grid. The U.S. Department of Energy said that Smart Grid upgrades could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030.

The nuclear energy industry directly employs nearly 19,000 people in the Carolinas who are paid $1.6 billion a year, according to an economic impact study out today.

The study, commissioned by an industry group, notes that most workers directly employed in the nuclear field earn $75,000 to $100,000 a year, The Charlotte Observer reports. Counting indirectly-related jobs, it says the industry employs 37,330 people with a $2.3 billion payroll.

The study, prepared by Clemson University's University Center for Economic Development, was paid for by AdvanceSC, created by Duke Energy to support economic development in South Carolina.

After a decades-long lull, six new reactors are planned in the Carolinas, including at Progress Energy's Shearon Harris facility in southwest Wake County.

If new nuclear plants are built, the study said, as many as 54,000 construction jobs could be created over the next 20 years. Another 17,000 jobs would be filled to operate the plants and work in related industries, the study said.

Read the full Charlotte Observer report here.

Duke Energy will join with a Chinese company to develop commercial solar power projects in the United States.

Charlotte-based Duke signed the deal today with ENN Group, which operates more than 100 subsidiaries in 80 cities in China and employs more than 24,000 people.

Under the agreement the two will concentrate on large utility-scale farms and commercial distributed generation solar projects.

"China is investing heavily in clean energy and we can make greater progress in the U.S. by joining forces and working together," Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers said in a statement.

The agreement will expand Duke's existing investments in renewable energy, including wind and biopower. Duke owns and operates more than 630 megawatts of wind power projects in the United States and plans to add another 350 megawatts by the end of next year.

The public staff for the state Utilities Commission and Duke Energy have reached an agreement on Duke's request for a 13 percent residential rate increase to cover operating expenses.

The propsal, which must be approved by the Utilities Commission, would allow Duke to raise residential rates by about 7 percent over two years, said Robert Gruber, executive director of the Utility Commission's public staff.

The two-year increase will add $7.31 to the monthly bill for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Currently, a Duke Energy customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month pays $90.19.

The first of the two rate increases will occur Jan. 1 and will add $3.70, or 4 percent, to an average residential customer's bill.

Duke's request for a 13 percent increase would have added about $11 a month to residential bills. Duke raised rates by about 5 percent on Sept. 1 to offset higher energy prices.

The Charlotte-based utility has 4 million electricity customers in five states, including about 160,000 in the western Triangle.

Cary software developer SAS will double the size of the solar farm on its corporate campus.

The company said today it will build a 1.2-megawatt addition, enough to power about 200 homes, to the existing 1-megawatt facility that began operating in December. The new solar project is scheduled to begin generating electricity in March.

When combined, the 2.2-megawatt SAS solar project will constitute the state's biggest solar energy farm.

Several major power companies have cancelled their membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the business group's position on global warming, but North Carolina's electric utilities are not planning to sever their relationship with the organization.
Raleigh-based Progress Energy and Charlotte-based Duke Energy say they have long, productive relationships with the national chamber.
In recent weeks, power companies that have quit the chamber include Excelon, one of the country's biggest electric utilities, as well as Pacific Gas & Electric in California. They quit over the chamber's resistance to climate change legislation that would impose additional costs on some businesses.

Duke Energy will replace its company cars and trucks with plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles, Bloomberg News is reporting.

Charlotte-based Duke made the announcement today in conjunction with the Florida utility, FPL Group, at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York.

Ward 2 City Council candidate Darius Little took a shot at City Hall during a candidates' forum Thursday.

Asked for his philosophy on the budget, Little brought up the city's Youth Council. Created in 2003, the council is supposed to involve its members in city boards and commissions and service projects.

"The Youth Council is the Jesus Christ of crime prevention for the City Council," said Little, who claimed the youth on the council don't represent depressed neighborhoods or gangs.
"There are two administrators that run the youth council," he continued. "Guess how much they make? $234,000. ...

"Why don't we cut some of the pork out of the youth council?"

Churches, he said, could perform the same functions for free.

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Duke Energy's request to raise its rates has drawn opposition from City Council candidate Donald Hughes.

"At a time when our citizens are burdened by a struggling economy, rising water and sewer rates and increased taxes, a 13.5 percent increase in Duke Energy rates is unbearable," Hughes said in a prepared statement.

Hughes also said the utility's plan to build a new coal-powered plant is "unacceptable."

The request is before the state Utilities Commission.

Duke Energy's residential customers will pay nearly 5 percent more for electricity, beginning next month, to account for high fuel costs, the Charlotte Observer reports.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which approved the increase today, allows electric utilities to adjust customer charges once a year to reflect fuel costs.

Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said high coal prices and volatility, driven by worldwide demand, have driven up those adjustments for the past two years. A record-hot June 2008, leading to more fuel use, also drove up this year's adjustment.

The commission today approved a 4.8 percent increase in residential bills, pushing the average charge up $4.14 to $90.42 a month.

Charlotte-based Duke has more than 160,000 customers in the western Triangle. Read the full Charlotte Observer story here.