Energy Crossroads: Exploring North Carolina’s Two Energy Futures
North Carolina’s Clean Energy Plan, a proposal put together by the Department of Environmental Quality at the behest of Governor Roy Cooper, calls for a 70-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Duke Energy has submitted Integrated Resource Plans that include pathways to the Clean Energy Plan targets. Duke Energy’s Portfolio D most resembles the Clean Energy Plan, deploying wind, solar, and battery storage on an unprecedented scale. This report assesses North Carolina’s existing electricity portfolio, analyzes the changes proposed by Duke Energy’s Portfolio D, and compares that scenario to alternatives that utilize nuclear energy and natural gas to achieve emissions reduction rather than the Clean Energy Plan’s preferred wind, solar, and battery storage.
North Carolina’s Clean Energy Plan, a proposal put together by the Department of Environmental Quality at the behest of Governor Roy Cooper, calls for a 70-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Duke Energy has submitted Integrated Resource Plans that include pathways to the Clean Energy Plan targets. Duke Energy’s Portfolio D most resembles the Clean Energy Plan, deploying wind, solar, and battery storage on an unprecedented scale.
This report assesses North Carolina’s existing electricity portfolio, analyzes the changes proposed by Duke Energy’s Portfolio D, and compares that scenario to alternatives that utilize nuclear energy and natural gas to achieve emissions reduction rather than the Clean Energy Plan’s preferred wind, solar, and battery storage.
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JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION
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should be noted, however, that the energy efficiency designation is dubious
in many cases. For example, of the 2.3 million jobs deemed by the
report to be in energy efficiency across the nation, 494,000 are in automobile
manufacturing and are given the energy efficiency designation
because the workers “are contributing to producing vehicles that help
achieve” national fuel-economy mandates.
North Carolina’s Power Plants
Nuclear Power Plants
Duke Energy operates five reactors at three nuclear plants in the state:
the McGuire Nuclear Station in Mecklenberg County, the Harris Nuclear
Plant in Wake County, and the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Brunswick
County. South of the state border, Duke Energy operates Oconee Nuclear
Station, Catawba Nuclear Station, and Robinson Nuclear Plant.
The McGuire Nuclear Station, which was commissioned in 1981, has the
highest capacity at 2,316 megawatts. The Harris Nuclear Plant, commissioned
in 1987, has a capacity of 964 megawatts. The Brunswick Nuclear
Plant, commissioned in 1975, has a capacity of 1,870 megawatts. 16 Duke
Energy noted in its 2018 Integrated Resource Plan that capacity uprates
totaling 56 megawatts are planned for the Brunswick and Harris plants
through 2028.
According to DEQ, the combined capacity of North Carolina’s nuclear
units was 5,118 MW in 2017. The units had an average capacity factor
of 94 percent. 17 The licenses for these plants expire between 2034 and
2046, but Duke Energy is in the process of renewing them. 18
Natural Gas Power Plants
Duke Energy operates 11 gas-fired generating facilities in North Carolina,
ranging from the Asheville Combined Cycle Station in Buncombe
County to the Dan River Combined Cycle Station in Rockingham County
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