Solar Boost in One U.S. State Sends Wind to the Sidelines

North Carolina passed a clean-energy bill Thursday that could spur a wave of new solar projects in the country’s second-biggest solar state -- but at the expense of wind.

House Bill 589, which Governor Roy Cooper signed Thursday, places a moratorium on new wind development through December 2018. The law creates a competitive bidding process that will bring more than 2.6 gigawatts of new solar over 3 1/2 years, Duke Energy Corp., owner of the state’s biggest utility, said. The legislation also allows customers to lease solar panels on their roofs instead of having to buy them, opening the market to third-party installers.