Bill requiring safe disposal of spent solar panels gets hearing
RALEIGH — If all the solar panels from industrial-scale electric plants in North Carolina were laid end to end, they would stretch from Raleigh to San Francisco and back nearly four times. Yet the state has no plan to handle the 475,000 tons of panels once they wear out and become waste.
N.C. has issued more than $1 billion in renewable energy tax credits
RALEIGH — Benefit or boondoggle? That’s the billion-dollar question.
North Carolina surpassed the $1 billion mark in renewable energy investment tax credits issued in 2018 — three years after the lucrative subsidy program to stimulate solar development expired. Taxpayers have picked up the bill, and could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of more tax credits in coming years.
Duke Energy: Power outage south of Hamlet caused by copper theft
HAMLET — A suspected copper thief left hundreds in the dark for several hours early Tuesday morning.
Afternoon storms down trees in Ellerbe
ELLERBE — A strong storm that passed through Richmond County this afternoon downed trees and left some residents without power.
East Rockingham students introduced to high-tech gadgets at science festival
EAST ROCKINGHAM — If the excitement and participation of students is an indicator of a healthy school, East Rockingham Elementary is on the right track.
NWS: Florence Remnant Could Return to Carolinas
ROCKINGHAM— Florence may not be finished with the Carolinas just yet.
A remnant of the once-Category 4 hurricane that devastated parts of North and South Carolina over the weekend could be headed this way.
According to the National Weather Service, a low pressure system left over from Florence has looped back around and currently has gale-force winds. As of 8:07 p.m. Thursday, the system was 100 miles northeast of Bermuda heading southwest at 15 mph.
While the probability is only 20 percent, meteorologists say the low could develop tropical characteristics over the next five days.
Duke Energy Foundation Grant Supports Growing Substation Program
HAMLET – Duke Energy continues its investment in Richmond Community College’s Electric Utility Substation and Relay Technology (EUSRT) program to help build a skilled workforce for the energy industry. The Duke Energy Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to the College’s Foundation to expand the curriculum of the EUSRT program that prepares students to become relay technicians and transformer test specialists.
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