Melissa Williams, melissa.williams@sierraclub.org
COLUMBIA, S.C — After pressure from the public and an order from state regulators, Duke Energy has proposed long-term plans that retire polluting coal earlier and add more renewable energy, but at the same time would add even more fracked gas plants than previously planned.
The two Duke Energy utilities that operate in the Carolinas—Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress—filed revised integrated resource plans, or IRPs, with the Public Service Commission (PSC) of South Carolina on Friday evening*. An IRP is essentially a road map of how an electric utility plans to meet customer demand in the future.
Duke’s original 2020 resource plans relied too heavily on costly and polluting fossil fuels. After state regulators sent the plans back to Duke with instructions to correct faulty assumptions and conduct more analysis, Duke filed its revised plans on Friday.
Duke proposes to:
· Retire its remaining coal plants by the end of this decade;
· Follow a “preferred portfolio” that includes 3,000 more megawatts of solar energy and 600 more megawatts of wind energy compared with the original plans;
· Drop carbon dioxide emissions 66% by 2030, but plateau to 66% in 2035;
· Add 9,600 megawatts of gas plants, up from its previous proposal of 7,350 megawatts;
· Add no increase to energy-efficiency savings, one of the cheapest and most effective ways to cut energy use.
Parties to the commission proceedings have 60 days to file written comments on the revised IRPs, and the PSC will ultimately need to approve the plans.
Dave Rogers, Southeast deputy regional campaign director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, released the following statement:
“It’s good that Duke has finally come to grips with how dirty, expensive and unnecessary coal is—but if they’re really serious about fighting the climate crisis, they can’t ramp up on fracked gas instead. Duke should immediately shift away from the outdated resource planning that led to a grid dominated by polluting fossil fuels. Clean energy is cheap, abundant and offers the best path forward for protecting public health and relieving the economic burden on families and businesses.”
Sierra Cub is represented in this IRP process by the Southern Environmental Law Center. Other parties include the Coastal Conservation League, Upstate Forever, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
*IRP Links
2020 MODIFIED SC IRP - DEC.pdf
2020 MODIFIED SC IRP - DEP.pdf
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.