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Duke Energy announced its plan to power the Carolinas. Here’s what you need to know.

Duke Energy's Asheville gas plant opened in 2020 on the site of a former coal-fired plant. The utility wants to build more like it, even as it tries to cut carbon emissions.
David Boraks
/
WFAE
Duke Energy's Asheville gas plant opened in 2020 on the site of a former coal-fired plant. The utility wants to build more like it, even as it tries to cut carbon emissions.

Duke Energy filed its 2025 resource plan earlier this month. The filing has drawn sharp criticism from environmental and clean energy advocates, and even has some business groups skeptical about future rate hikes.

WFAE’s climate reporter Zachary Turner sat down with host Nick de la Canal to break down what you need to know:

Nick de la Canal: To begin, what is this plan, and why should we care about it?

Zachary Turner: Duke files a resource plan every two years. It’s a roadmap that says what Duke’s going to build, like new power plants, when it’s going to build them, and about how much it’s going to cost ratepayers.

It also projects how much energy folks will need, and how the utility will supply it while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Ideally.

De la Canal: Ideally?

Turner: Well, Duke’s resource plan also details how the utility will reach carbon neutrality by 2050. This means eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions that the utility doesn’t plan to offset with carbon credits.

Until earlier this year, the state mandated Duke to reduce emissions by 70% of 2005 levels by 2030 -- which is just five years away.

De la Canal: Right. That brings us to the differences between this plan and the 2023 plan. So, what’s changed?

Turner: The changes in this plan reflect the changes in the federal and state legislative landscape.

President Trump is ending clean energy tax credits, but preserving or creating incentives for battery storage and nuclear. He’s also putting his administration’s full weight behind fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, the state legislature rolled back that key 2030 climate target and made financing new nuclear reactors less risky for Duke Energy.

The result is a plan that pumps the brakes on solar energy, punts on wind energy and leans more heavily on natural gas and battery storage in the short term. Carbon pollution will go up during the next decade, with new gas plants coming online, and coal plants running up to an extra four years.

De la Canal: That makes sense. If the utility burns more fossil fuels, then its carbon emissions also go up. 

Turner: Exactly. Burning fossil fuels is a primary driver of climate change. It’s also potentially driving up customers’ power bills, tying customer rates to fuels like natural gas that have volatile prices. Senior attorney David Neal with the Southern Environmental Law Center brought up that point at a recent conference in Raleigh:

David Neal: A big consequence of removing the interim target is unlocking Duke's plans to build more gas plants in the near term and to delay coal retirements, and that is going to put so much risk on customers

Turner: The plan also bets big on new nuclear reactors coming online in the late 2030s to curb those emissions and maybe even come close to meeting the 2050 carbon neutrality target.

De la Canal: What does that mean for the average person?

Turner: Right now, this is just a proposal. But if the commission approves this plan, it means bills will go up. Duke forecasts an unprecedented increase in energy demand over the next 10-15 years. That means building new infrastructure, increasing bills by an average 2.1% annually over the next 10 years.

There are also air quality concerns for power plant neighbors. For folks living near one of three coal plants, it means those facilities will continue running, with the Cliffside plant in Cleveland County running until 2040.

De la Canal: What are people saying about the plan? 

Turner: Some business groups like Duke’s “all of the above” approach, because Duke markets this as the cheapest and most reliable pathway.

However, other groups, like the Carolina Utility Customers Association, worry more natural gas plants will strain North Carolina’s gas supply for industrial companies.

Other concerns about the plan fall into a few main camps:

There’s the climate problem. This plan goes against international climate goals to reduce near-term carbon emissions. We know Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal were made worse by warmer ocean temperatures. Extreme heat and sea level rise continue to be a concern, and these problems don’t just go away if we reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and they certainly get worse the longer we burn fossil fuels.

Next, some groups worry that Duke plans to build too much new infrastructure. If Duke builds out a bunch of new gas-powered turbines for giant new electricity-guzzling customers like data centers who don’t ultimately come, ratepayers will get stuck with the bill.

De la Canal: What comes next?

Everyone who’s not Duke Energy is still poring over this massive filing. In the coming months, folks will comment on it and some groups might submit their own independent modeling of energy demand. The state’s new Energy Task Force, for example, will be trying to verify Duke’s findings.

Next year, the utilities commission will hold public hearings across the state before it takes a vote.

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Zachary Turner is a climate reporter and author of the WFAE Climate News newsletter. He freelanced for radio and digital print, reporting on environmental issues in North Carolina.
Nick de la Canal is a host and reporter covering breaking news, arts and culture, and general assignment stories. His work frequently appears on air and online.