Idaho’s largest solar plant is now commercially operable, marking Duke Energy’s first utility-scale renewable energy project in the Potato State.
The 120MW Jackpot Solar project will provide energy to Idaho Power through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
SOLV Energy completed the engineering and construction of the project, located on 952 rural acres south of the city of Twin Falls. Duke will own and operate the project.
Duke Energy’s current generation mix includes more than 10,000MW of solar and wind energy. Duke Energy has set a goal of reaching 16,000MW of renewables by 2025 and 47,000MW by 2050.
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In a February 2022 call with investors, Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good said the utility plans to double its renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, and stop generating electricity from coal by 2035.
Duke has retired 56 coal units for a total of 7.5GW of capacity since 2010, Good said. The utility will spend around $4 billion on hydrogen-enabled natural gas generation to better ensure reliability in the absence of coal.
Idaho is ranked 28th among US states in solar installed with 630MW, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
At 108MW, Grandview PV Solar Two is one of the largest solar projects in Idaho. It was installed in 2016.
Originally published by Kevin Clark on power-eng.com
