Duke Energy Corp
’s
DUK
subsidiary, Duke Energy Florida (DEF), recently announced the locations of its two newest solar power plants that will continue the expansion of its renewable generation portfolio. Duke Energy Florida will soon commence construction of the Fort Green Power Plant in Hardee County and the Bay Trail Solar Power Plant in Citrus County.
A Brief Note on the Two New Solar Sites
Duke Energy’s 74.9-megawatt (MW) Fort Green Power Plant will consist of approximately 265,000 solar panels, which will utilize a fixed-tilt racking system that will produce carbon-free energy to power more than 20,000 average-sized homes at peak production. Meanwhile, the 74.9-MW Bay Trail Solar Power Plant will consist of approximately 197,000 tracking bifacial solar panels. This plant will be equipped enough to effectively produce electricity to power approximately 23,000 average-sized homes at peak production.
Duke Energy’s Growing Prospects in Florida
The state of Florida is also referred to as the Sunshine state, as the region is appropriate for harnessing solar energy. Evidently, Duke Energy has successfully installed more than 1.9 million solar panels in Florida to date. Currently, Duke Energy Florida itself has more than 900 MW of solar generation under construction or in operation and it plans on expanding operations four times over the next four years. The company is investing an estimated $1 billion to construct or acquire a total of 700 MW of solar power facilities from 2018 through 2022 in Florida.
In relation to the company’s existing projects, Duke Energy Florida currently expects its 74.5 MW Duette Solar Power Plant and the 74.9 MW Charlie Creek Solar Power Plant to come online by the end of 2021. Further, its Twin Rivers Solar Power Plant in Hamilton County and the Santa Fe Solar Power Plant in Columbia County, each with a capacity of 74.9 MW, are set to be completed within the first half of 2021.
Solar Energy Prospects & Utilities
Overcoming the COVID-19 impacts and challenges, the solar market in the United States seems to gradually be back on track. Looking ahead,
per an SEIA report
, solar installations from 2021 to 2025 are now projected to exceed 107 gigawatts-direct current (GWdc), indicating a 10 GWdc rise from the last quarter, driven primarily by increases in the utility-scale solar pipeline.
Surely such improved projection offers ample growth opportunities for utilities that are expanding their renewable portfolios, with solar constituting major portions. In this regard, utilities that are worth mentioning include
Dominion Energy
D
,
CMS Energy
CMS
and
NextEra Energy
NEE
.
Dominion Energy currently plans for a significant expansion of large-scale solar energy in Virginia, wherein at least 15,900 MW of new solar energy could be added in the next 15 years. CMS Energy’s clean energy plans include adding approximately 1,100 MW of solar through 2024 to help achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. NextEra Energy has been making substantial investments to work on its “30-by-30” plan to install more than 30 million solar panels in Florida by 2030.
Price Movement
In a year’s time, shares of Duke Energy have increased 7.4% compared with the
industry
’s 5.4% growth.
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Zacks Rank
Duke Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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