Wind Energy

The project's developer, Apex Clean Energy, says the turbines will be one-quarter to one-half mile apart on managed timberland and farmland. Their capacity to generate 189 megawatts of electricity will be enough to power 47,000 homes, according to Apex.

NC Attorney General Josh Stein says state regulators should reject Duke Energy's proposals for reducing carbon from energy generation and instead, adopt a plan that meets the state's clean energy goals and costs less.

Public hearings in Asheville and Charlotte this week will give people a chance to comment on how North Carolina should reduce carbon emissions from power plants to fight climate change. Governor Roy Cooper and the legislature agree on the goals, but there's a big fight over the details. WFAE climate reporter David Boraks talks with host Marshall Terry.

The two companies that won a federal auction to build wind farms off North Carolina have finalized leases, just before the start of 10-year federal moratorium ordered by the Trump administration.

The Biden administration announced a partnership Thursday with a bipartisan group of East Coast governors, including North Carolina's Roy Cooper, to help meet state and federal goals for expanding offshore wind energy and fighting climate change.

Two companies — Duke Energy and a French company — have won leases for offshore wind farms off North Carolina with bids totaling $315 million.

The federal government will auction leases Wednesday for two potential wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean off Wilmington. Someday they could power a half-million homes, but there's still years of work before that happens.

Two wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia are generating climate-friendly electricity and providing data that's being used to plan for a much larger offshore wind farm there. WFAE climate reporter David Boraks visited and got a glimpse of a budding industry that officials eventually hope to see off North Carolina, though planning here is years behind.

North Carolina officials led by Gov. Roy Cooper are at an offshore wind conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, this week promoting the state as a base for offshore wind development.

Duke Energy does not have wind farms in the Carolinas, but the utility says wind energy could be part of its long-term strategy to cut carbon emissions from electricity generation. CEO Lynn Good hinted recently that the Charlotte-based company is looking at offshore wind energy along the Atlantic Coast.