Image credit: IndyWeek [1]
Despite a years-long campaign to greenwash its corporate image by misleading the news media and decision-makers, Duke Energy remains a leading driver of the global climate crisis and is expanding fossil fuels while undermining clean energy solutions.
The latest evidence is data NC WARN’s attorney and engineer obtained during the “discovery” phase of the ongoing challenge to Duke’s latest (pro) Carbon Plan proposal. That plan is Duke’s projection of future power generation, and the NC Utilities Commission is supposed to subject it to rigorous open debate by multiple parties and meaningful input by the public.
Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 30]
The data NC WARN found show that Duke won’t even begin choosing bids for its much-touted solar expansion until at least 2028 [3]. Construction would apparently begin sometime later, then increase for a few years before reverting to very low levels again by 2037 (just 525 MW) and beyond, according to Duke’s projections in the 2023 (pro) Carbon Plan application [2, pg. 81].
Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 81]
For several years, North Carolina ranked 2nd nationally in additions of large-scale solar fields, with 1,250 megawatts (MW) added in 2017 [4]. The number plummeted to 250 MW in 2022 due to pro-Duke legislation and a limit on new solar development that Duke sought and received from the NCUC in its 2022 Carbon Plan order.
Those legislative and regulatory barriers have fueled uncertainty among solar investors, leading to market stagnation and the loss of dozens of proposed projects; North Carolina’s national solar ranking fell to 13th in 2023 [5]. The Solar Energy Industry Association says NC ranks 23rd in projected growth over the next five years.
Image credit: SEIA [5]
To amplify the uncertainty, many of the new solar farms Duke Energy is claiming it will later pursue could hinge on Duke leaders’ dreams to pour billions into new or expanded transmission corridors in southeastern NC, where several community groups have already expressed concerns and demanded to know precisely where Duke intends to use eminent domain (land seizure) for new corridors [6].
All this amplifies our belief that Charlotte-based Duke Energy is gradually strangling the companies that build large solar fields, much like it’s done to the companies focusing on rooftop-parking lot solar through its NCUC-sanctioned change to net metering rules. A ruling that could reverse those changes is pending at the NC Court of Appeals [7].
Guaranteed Failure to Help with Climate Crisis
So, even if Duke’s high-risk plans for utility-scale solar, experimental nuclear reactors and “hydrogen capable” gas were to succeed as planned, none would provide any meaningful climate benefit until well into the 2030s – much too late for North Carolina to help avert runaway climate-social chaos.
Meanwhile, Duke continues expanding construction of methane-leaking, fracked gas burning power plants, hedging against quitting coal and charging ratepayers millions annually to study the possibility of building an as-yet designed nuclear reactor that, at best, might become operational in 2034.
State leaders simply must stop Duke Energy from killing the growth of renewables and doubling down in the wrong direction. Local, rooftop-parking lot solar plus storage, matched with well-placed utility-scale solar is the fastest, cheapest – and could be the most equitable way – for North Carolina to help the millions of people already being devastated by climate impacts.
This article was published first at NC WARN.
Work Cited
Billman, Jeffrey. “Trump’s Failing War on Solar Could Hurt North Carolina.” INDY Week, 8 Feb. 2023, indyweek.com/news/archives-news/trump-s-failing-war-solar-hurt-north-carolina.
"Carolinas Resource Plan, Appendix C." Duke Energy, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/DukeCPAppendixC.pdf.
“Carbon Plan Data Request, NC WARN Request No. 1, Item No. 1-14.” NC WARN, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/CPDataReq.pdf.
“State Solar Spotlight.” SEIA, Sept. 2022, www.seia.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/North%20Carolina%20State-Factsheet-2022-Q3.pdf.
“North Carolina Solar.” SEIA, www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/north-carolina-solar.
“84 Solar Companies, Targeted Groups and Allies Call for Investigation of Duke Energy.” NC WARN, 13 Dec. 2023, www.ncwarn.org/2023/12/84-solar-companies-targeted-groups-and-allies-call-for-investigation-of-duke-energy-nc-warn-news-release.
“Duke Energy on Defense at NC Court of Appeals Over Regulators’ Agreement to Slash Solar Incentives.” NC WARN & EWG, 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.
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