Duke Energy’s NC Gas Plants Approved Amid Environmental Worries
TL/DR –
Duke Energy has gotten approval from state regulators in North Carolina to replace several coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired stations at two sites by 2029. The plan is part of an effort to reduce emissions to meet the state’s 2030 carbon neutrality goal, with an extension granted till 2032. However, despite a decrease in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, the new plants will result in a significant increase in overall greenhouse gas emissions, with methane not included in the law, leading to an 83.7% increase in emissions at the Roxboro plant and more than double the emissions at the Marshall plant.
Despite legally-bound duty to reduce carbon emissions, Duke Energy adoption of natural gas could cause significant greenhouse gas emission increase.
Duke Energy plans to transition from coal-fired power plants to natural gas-fired stations at two North Carolina sites by 2029, approved by state regulators.
Half of the coal-fired units at Person County’s Roxboro and Catawba County’s Marshall plants will be replaced with gas-fired units and gas-fired turbines, respectively.
Following approval from environmental and utility regulators, including the NC Utilities Commission and the state Department of Environmental Quality, air quality permits were issued for the gas-fired plants.
“We appreciate the support of Person and Catawba counties,” said Bill Norton, a Duke Energy spokesman. “We aim to transition to cleaner energy whilst ensuring grid reliability and affordability for our customers.”
North Carolina leaders enacted a law in 2021, requiring utilities like Duke to reduce carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, Duke’s proposal to extend this deadline to 2032 was recently approved by the NC Utilities Commission.
Despite environmentalists advocating a quicker shift to clean energy, Duke maintains that natural gas will be required during the coal transition to meet energy demand.
The new gas-fired plants are expected to decrease sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, but will cause a significant increase in other greenhouse gases like methane.
The Roxboro plant’s greenhouse gas emissions will jump by 83.7%, and the Marshall plant’s emissions will more than double. Munashe Magarira, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, expressed opposition to the new plants’ approval, citing serious health and pollution risks.
The Southern Environmental Law Center argued that Duke could have circumvented emission increases by launching the natural gas plants as new projects rather than modifications of power stations, but this would have imposed stricter pollution control rules.
Simultaneously, Duke is facing a lawsuit from the Town of Carrboro for allegedly undermining efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption and lying about climate change threats.
A November report claims Duke was aware of climate change threats as early as the 1970s but joined disinformation campaigns in the 90s opposing legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
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