In an interview in his final days as Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper repeated the pretense that North Carolina is transitioning to clean energy [1].
Gov. Cooper said he regrets that Duke Energy leaders are planning to add “a little more gas” than “necessary” to burn for power generation, and he boasted of the solar that might be added (many years from now).
As NC WARN has explained many times to reporters, the comparison is smoke and mirrors. Duke’s latest (pro) carbon plan proposes nearly nine gigawatts (GW) of new gas-fired generation capacity by 2033, the equivalent of some 10 Shearon Harris nuclear plants [2, pg. 37]. Most of those gas units would generate power around 75 percent of the time.
By contrast, Duke plans roughly nine GW of new solar field capacity by 2033. But solar generates power around 20 percent of the time. Thus, the actual electricity to be generated from new gas dwarfs the amount from new solar.
And Duke is expanding the gas-fired generation right now, while limiting additions of large solar for years to come. In addition, the utility has deeply hampered rooftop and parking lot solar-plus-storage – the fastest, cheapest, fairest tool we have to phase out fossil fuels [3].
In fact, Duke Energy in the Carolinas is planning the largest gas buildout of any utility in the nation – a head-on collision with the demands of climate scientists [4, 5]
Gov. Cooper wants to be our US senator, and he can be lauded for many things. But holding Duke Energy accountable isn’t among them.
This type of greenwashing is similar to that cited in Carrboro’s new lawsuit against Duke Energy for its 50-year conspiracy to deceive everyone about the corporation’s role in causing and responding to the global climate crisis.
Scientists are demanding the phase out of fossil fuels right now, not some scheme to claim “carbon neutrality” decades down the line, which is nothing but a losing strategy. Politicians and others must stop enabling Duke Energy to pretend North Carolina is on the right track toward helping avert runaway climate crisis.
This article was published first by NC WARN.
Work Cited
Wagner, Adam. “After 2 Terms as Governor, Cooper Looks Back at How NC Became ‘A Clean Energy Epicenter.’” News and Observer, 26 Dec. 2024, www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article297400916.html.
“Supplemental Planning Analysis.” Duke Energy, 2024, www.duke-energy.com/-/media/pdfs/our-company/carolinas-resource-plan/supplements/supplemental-planning-analysis.pdf?rev=f134d62ba6d645ccb3de2bc227a0d42d.
Heilman, Sara. “Duke Energy on Defense at NC Court of Appeals Over Regulators’ Agreement to Slash Solar Incentives.” NC WARN, 13 Feb. 2024, www.ncwarn.org/2024/02/duke-energy-on-defense-at-nc-court-of-appeals-over-regulators-agreement-to-slash-solar-incentives-news-release-from-nc-warn-ewg.
“Say NO to Duke and Dominion’s Dirty, Dangerous Fracked Gas Buildout.” Sierra Club, 2024, www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/2719%20NC-Factsheet%2005_web%20%281%29.pdf.
Robertson, Sally. “Top Climate Expert Leads 45 Scientists Calling for Gov. Roy Cooper, CEO Lynn Good to Stop Duke Energy’s Huge Fossil Fuel Expansion.” NC WARN, 15 Nov. 2022, www.ncwarn.org/2022/11/scientist-letter-to-cooper-and-good-to-stop-duke-gas.