NC WARN

Duke Energy is leading NC in the wrong direction of dirty, expensive power

Durham, N.C. – While the rest of the world makes promising advancements in solar, wind, and battery storage technologies, North Carolina remains a climate laggard instead of a climate leader. Duke Energy’s massive planned expansion of fracked gas-fired and nuclear power plants and its suppression of renewables has caused our state to fall behind in the global clean energy transition. 

Technological advancements are happening daily – Chinese scientists just set a world record by developing a new solar cell exceeding 28% efficiency. Solar abundance is now allowing many households in Australia to get three free hours of solar power every afternoon. A dozen nations now generate more electricity with renewable sources than they consume, and they export the excess. 

Worldwide, 80% of new energy capacity comes from renewable sources. According to Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson, this progress reflects a global transition away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, enabled by advances in battery technology and rapidly falling costs. 

Even in the US, where federal policy aims to hamstring the renewable energy industry, solar and batteries remain the cheapest form of electricity. Utah produced more power from solar than any other source in May for the very first time. South Dakota and Montana now generate more renewable energy than they consume. California, the fourth largest economy in the world, now produces more than 100 percent of its electricity demand from renewable energy most days.

Much of the world is realizing that fossil fuels and risky, expensive nuclear plants are becoming obsolete in the face of faster, cheaper, safer, more reliable renewable power. But Duke Energy seems set on dragging our state backward, against the flow of progress. 

“In my international work, I’m inspired by the ever-increasing expansion of solar, wind and other renewable energy across the world,” said Dale Evarts, former head of the Climate and International Group at the US Environmental Protection Agency. “Countries are reducing their reliance on expensive fossil fuels and their vulnerability to blackmail and war. It’s discouraging to see North Carolina miss out on this enormous clean energy transition that creates jobs, inspires innovation, and makes electricity more affordable.”

Duke Energy has the largest planned expansion of fracked gas-fired power plants and failure-prone nuclear plants in the nation. Duke’s top executives recently admitted to aggressively recruiting data centers, which harm communities and drive Duke’s fossil fuel buildout. 

While solar and batteries become cheaper and more accessible globally, Duke Energy repeatedly attacks North Carolina’s solar industry. In 2024, the NC Court of Appeals ruled to uphold a Duke rule change that slashed the economic benefits of installing rooftop solar. 

Solar energy is available everywhere, free from volatile fuel costs, cheap and reliable, and readily available to us at a time when scientists demand that we change course as soon as possible to avert climate chaos. In the words of journalist and environmental scholar Bill McKibben, “[the sun] is willing to provide us with all the power we could ever need. This gift has come at the last possible moment. It would be an extraordinary sin to waste it.”

Why would Duke Energy hold North Carolina back by investing in dirty, failure-prone energy instead? Governor Josh Stein must ensure that North Carolina benefits from the global clean energy revolution by investing our future in clean, cheap solar power.

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Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes.

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