Renewable Energy

A year ago, during a Christmas Eve cold snap, a half-million electricity customers across the Carolinas had their power cut off for hours in a series of rolling blackouts. Could that happen again?

Duke Energy executives say the company is now in a "new era" after it sold off its two unregulated commercial renewable energy businesses last month. Officials say that leaves Charlotte-based Duke as a fully regulated company poised to grow revenues and profits.

Duke Energy recently celebrated a big birthday for one of its oldest workhorses — Mountain Island Hydroelectric Station in Gaston County, northwest of Charlotte. The dam and power station were built 100 years ago. But don't call it a historical relic. It was renewable energy before electricity's fossil-fuel era and it's expected to keep generating long after Duke closes its last coal-fired power plant in 2035.

Rooftop solar installers are asking state regulators to delay new rules and the implementation of lower payments for non-residential customers. They say Duke Energy hasn't provided adequate public notice of the changes that start next week.

Electric vehicles and renewable energy have gotten most of the attention as the city of Charlotte works to fight climate change. Other tactics aren't so visible — like cool roofs and porous pavement, known as smart surfaces.

Lawmakers in Raleigh are considering a bill that could make it easier to permit new nuclear plants and extend deadlines for Duke Energy to clean up coal ash dumps at its North Carolina plants.

A spokeswoman said fewer than 90 Duke employees will join ArcLight when the deal closes by year's end. Duke expects to net $259 million from the sale.

Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, says it has cut energy-related emissions on campus and is now carbon neutral, in part by claiming credits for investments in clean energy elsewhere.

Gov. Roy Cooper urged business leaders at a conference in Raleigh Wednesday to help resist legislative efforts to slow the state's clean energy efforts.

Three years ago, Duke Energy opened its newest natural gas-fired power plant in Asheville, on the site of an old coal-fired plant. Duke wants to build more gas plants around North Carolina as part of its plan to reduce the heat-trapping pollution that comes from electricity generation. But the idea has plenty of critics.