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Why North Carolina Lags Behind in 2017 Renewable Energy Projects!As 2017 kicks off, Duke Energy strives tocontinues to monopolize the power industry by implementing new standards that have sent independent renewable energy providers for a whirl. This past July, Duke Energy implemented put forth new regulations redefining safe grid connections for independent renewable energy producers. The new grid connection requirements are, also known as the stiffness test, hinders third party renewable energy companies from moving forward, and subsequently leaveing North Carolina behind in renewable energy.Renewable energy is a subject that is important to Wielechowski and Fuller. With Duke Energy’s rules and laws constricting the level of control on what companies can do regarding renewable energy, has caused aa battle of power control has emerged. Renewable energy is a tough subject, ; everyone many are pushing for policies that pursue awants to live in a clean environment and help reduce their carbon footprints to encourage positive changes and protect against climate change, but implementing this such changes takes requires a collective agreement. North Carolina lags behind in replenishing resources for 2017, which is a big drop from being the second ranked state for overall solar [missing word here] in 2016.?With Duke Energy’s newest rules regarding which third-party industries can connect to their power grid, it is even demonstrate how hard it is to even obtainget renewable energy. In July, Duke Energy proposed the idea of new guidelines to enter the power grids with a “stiffness test.” This test redefined the regulations for individual renewable energy companies to connect to the grid. Companies are being forced to go back to the drawing board and redesign their renewable energy plans.?The new guidelines were implemented as a safety mechanism to protect against problems related to the connection between circuits with limited capacity. HYPERLINK "" John Downey says, “The stiffness test was designed to make sure independent power projects that tap onto Duke’s grid do not overwhelm the substations used for the interconnection,.” said HYPERLINK "" John Downey, (AND SAY WHO HE IS HERE/POSITION FOR VALIDITY). With the newly implemented guidelines, numerous companies who were implementing huge projects were tossed back to the starting line as their projects were terminated. Many companiesCompanies working on that had previously approved projects were able to negotiate because due toof rules establishing that they were grandfathered into the prior rule system. Other companies that had not had their projects completely approved were not so lucky. Many believe that these new regulations were implemented to reduce Duke Energy’s competition.: “Iit eliminates competition and hampers the development and implementation of solar and other clean energy technologies,” saidays Joel Olsen in John Downey’s article. Olsen, CEO of O2 EMC, continues by suggesting that the “stiffness test” does not cover the issues that Duke Energy is trying to resolve, but instead is denying about 80% of 600 solar projects. ?Companies like Charlotte’s Pine Gate Renewables are being affected by Duke Energy’s new regulations. Pine Gate’s Gate established a renewable energy plan to build 250 megawatts of solar energy this year. To pbut that in perspective, 250 megawatts is equivalent to eliminating 395,300,000 pounds of carbon a year. While thisThis is a huge project for Pine Gate Renewables, but they will unfortunately not be able to implement any of their projects in North Carolina due to . Duke Energy’s “stiffness test” demolished their plans..” In earlyAs early as January, this test was reported as bringing renewable energy projects to a standstill in the state of North Carolina.?This These projects will now be implemented in South Carolina and Oregon, s. Starting with 60 Megawatts worth of solar energy in several locations in South Carolina near Palmetto State. The companyPine Gate Renewables has no plans to establish any projects in North Carolina at this time, but they are confident that solar has future in the state. In response to the new regulations, many renewable energy companies filed complaints stating they were in violation of state and federal grid connection regulations by denying connection for N.C clean energy projects. The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) passed under the National Energy Act strives to increase energy conservation and requires companies to allow independent renewable energy companies access to the grid under regulations. The complaints that were filed against Duke Energy were stated as not abiding by the PURPA guidelines. O2 EMC was not pleased with the results of they complaints, statingay that Duke Energy only offered a vague excuse for not meeting the regulation of PURPA. To O2 EMC’s dismay, Duke Energy received no penalty for dismissing the complaints. The complaints addressed the issues of with Charlotte’s Duke Company’s Duke Energy Carolina and Duke Energy’s progress violating PURPA. Duke continues to stand by the decision, believing their regulation stands in good-faith. As time goes by, Duke Energy continues to increase their rulesexpand their rule. In a recent confrontation with Cypress Creek Renewables, Duke Energy refused to make large long-term power contracts. Cypress Creek Renewable filed a complaint after Duke Energy imposed new rules limiting the length and megawatts of power projects. Duke Energy limits the contracts to has limited contracts to be nothing more than five megawatts in five years. Duke claims that a maximum of a five-year contract will help protect their customers. This regulation affects six of Cypress Creek’s Projects, that equalsequaling 402 megawatts of solar energy. Overall, the battle to increase North Carolina Clean Energy projects continues on. Duke Energy has increased the standards of for which they allow third party producer to connect to their power grids through policies like. tThe “Stiffness Test,” implemented in July has made ithave made it increasingly difficult for companies like Pine Gate Renewables, Cypress Creek Renewables, and O2 EMC. These companies and many other solar power and renewable energy companies were forced to put their projects on a hold. Eyes will be on Duke Energy as the power struggle continues to unfold regarding solar energy and the policies currently in place. ................
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