Instead, the company and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will refocus their collaboration to study and help enable large-scale offshore wind development on the ocean side of the North Carolina coast.
In September 2009, the university and Duke Energy Carolinas signed a contract to place up to three demonstration wind turbines in the Pamlico Sound. The purpose of the pilot project was to study the potential for coastal wind generation off the coast of North Carolina.
Under that contract, the company would pay for the turbines and their installation, while UNC-Chapel Hill would conduct research on wind resources, ecological impacts and synergies, and initiate engineering studies of structural integrity during hurricanes. The turbines would have been among the first placed in waters off the US coast.
"As the team tackled this first-of-its-kind project, we realized that encouraging large-scale development of offshore wind resources is a better approach than enabling small demonstration projects that lack economies of scale," said Paul Newton, senior vice president of strategy for Duke Energy's franchised businesses.
"The work completed on this project was successful in showing that North Carolina is well positioned to develop offshore wind generation, and we encourage state lawmakers to consider legislation to enable affordable large-scale wind generation off the coast."