Duke Energy is going big time with the wind

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - Duke Energy is getting more serious about finding alternative power sources.

Earlier this week Duke disclosed plans to further explore building a nuclear power plant in South Carolina. On Thursday, Duke said it is buying 100 wind turbines from GE.

They aren’t cheap, either.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but GE recently sold 333 wind turbines to another company for $650 million. Based on that deal, Duke could have invested around $200 million in its latest wind venture.

The turbines won’t show up on a Carolinas mountaintop, however.

Duke is looking to place them somewhere in the western or southwestern United States. The turbines would be managed by Duke Energy Generation Services.

"Growing our wind power portfolio underscores our commitment to reduce carbon emissions across the United States," said DEGS President Wouter van Kempen in a statement.

Yes, going green – being more environmentally friendly – is getting to be bigger and bigger business as governmental, public and corporate response to global warming (manmade and otherwise) continues to intensify.

The turbines will augment Duke’s wind power efforts built around the acquisition of Tierra Energy, a wind power firm in Texas. Projects tied to that acquisition could generate more than 1,000 megawatts of power.

How much power is that?

Duke currently produces 31,000 megawatts of power, so wind isn’t much of a contributor – yet.