Duke Energy unveiled plans to ensure energy reliability for its customers in South Carolina, focusing on gas-fired power plants, nuclear reactors and renewables as it moves away from coal.
Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress have submitted their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC), according to a press release Tuesday.
“Over the next 15 years, electricity use by Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas is projected to increase by about 35,000 gigawatt-hours, more than the annual electricity generation of Delaware, Maine and New Hampshire combined,” said the president of Duke Energy’s state in South Carolina. Mike Callahan said. “We are preparing for this extraordinary growth in energy demand by prioritizing grid reliability, energy affordability and deploying a broad range of energy options that support the sustainability goals of our Carolina customers of the South”.
The submitted IRP includes three energy portfolios submitted to the PSCSC that offer a variety of generation options. All three portfolios have Duke Energy phasing out coal entirely by the end of 2035 with the modeled retirement of the Belews Creek power plant and the transition of the Cliffside 6 plant to 100 percent natural gas, according to the resource plan.
The three portfolios “demonstrate the need for a wide range of resource types, including fuel-free renewables, advanced nuclear units, energy storage and natural gas units with hydrogen capability to reliably meet customers’ growing needs while prudently phasing out coal and advancing an energy system transition toward carbon neutrality by 2050,” Duke Energy said in the plan.
The resource plan also states that wind power is an “important component of the energy transition,” as offshore wind would be needed to provide power and support system reliability in “a future with tighter constraints on the gas supply”.
Duke Energy recommends the third portfolio of its IRP as “the most prudent path forward” as it provides a “reliable, affordable and smart clean energy transition that supports the Palmetto State’s economic prosperity,” he said. Duke Energy said in the statement.
“This disciplined plan presents a path to leverage our state’s tremendous economic development activity that will contribute to South Carolina’s long-term vitality and prosperity while leveraging tax incentives and credits and operational efficiencies to help keep costs for the state’s energy future lower than they would otherwise be,” Callahan said.
Duke Energy’s third portfolio “maximizes the companies’ existing system resources by extending the life of Duke Energy’s nuclear plants and expanding the license of the Bad Creek Pumped Hydroelectric Storage Facility in County D ‘Oconee,” according to the release. Expanding operations at Bad Creek also provides significant economic benefits of $7.3 billion to South Carolina as the state benefits from construction and general infrastructure activity by 2033, Duke Energy said.
South Carolina’s filing begins a public regulatory process at the PSCSC that involves evaluating thousands of pages of testimony and data from the company, other parties to the proceeding and customers, Duke Energy said. The company expects a decision from the PSCSC “probably in mid-2024”.
The resource plan will also be presented to the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission in the coming days, where a similar but separate regulatory process will take place. Those plans are reviewed and adjusted every two to three years with updates submitted to both states, according to the release.
According to the release, Duke Energy Carolinas owns 19,500 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2.8 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in a 24,000-square-mile service area in North Carolina and South Carolina. Duke Energy Progress owns 12,500 MW of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in a 29,000 square mile service area in North Carolina and South Carolina.
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