Photo credit: Duke Energy via Creative Commons
To comply with its carbon-reduction laws on the books and support healthier communities, North Carolina should be shifting its electricity sources from coal to lower-cost clean energy. But in its latest plan presented to the NC Utilities Commission in August, Duke Energy proposed a coal-to-gas transition – a shift that offers North Carolina households and families higher levels of harmful air pollution and exposure to electricity price spikes via volatile natural gas costs, when compared to the clean energy alternative.
According to a law approved by overwhelming bi-partisan legislative majorities in 2021, North Carolina must reduce its carbon pollution from the power sector 70% below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050, supporting a necessary, statewide shift to a clean energy economy. Much of the specifics around getting to those goals, however, are left to the NC Utilities Commission to determine with input from stakeholders and utilities. Duke Energy, the largest utility in North Carolina, plays a major role in achieving those goals, and it must regularly submit updated plans to the Commission outlining how it intends to meet them.
In its first Carbon Plan submitted last year, which detailed different approaches for meeting those goals, Duke also proposed a major build-out of new gas power plants. And again, in its latest Carbon Plan/Integrated Resource Plan (CPIRP), Duke doubled-down on a concerning portfolio that proposes to:
- Miss the critical 2030 70% carbon reduction goal.
- Almost triple the amount of new gas build out.
- Delay offshore wind construction until the 2040s.
Here’s why the NC Utilities Commission should push Duke to submit a stronger plan that prioritizes renewables, not gas, and actually gets the state on track to meet its goals.
