State cuts Duke power plant expansion plans in half

Chapel Hill – The North Carolina Utilities Commission today turned down Duke Energy Carolinas’ request for a certificate to build two massive new coal-fired boilers at its Cliffside Steam Station near Shelby, citing Duke’s failure to prove the need for the full 1600 megawatts. Instead, the Commission’s decision authorized only half of Duke’s request, one 800 megawatt unit, and requires the company to retire four older units and commit one percent of its annual revenues to energy efficiency programs.

“We don’t think that Duke Energy has shown the need for even one unit, since the utility has failed to tap the potential of energy efficiency and conservation,” said SELC attorney Gudrun Thompson, “but the fact that the Utilities Commission didn’t approve the full 1600 megawatts that Duke had sought shows that the state is starting to wake up to the threat of global warming.”

The decision comes after a three-day hearing last month during which experts testified that a 1600 megawatt expansion was not needed to meet Duke’s projected needs of its customers and that the company has done little to offset demand though cleaner energy options. Furthermore, Duke officials testified that the company planned on selling up to 800 megawatts of power from the expanded plant, which further undermined its claims that 1600 megawatts were necessary to meet customer demand.

“The utilities commission had the good sense to deny Duke Energy's full proposal," said Michael Shore, senior air policy analyst with Environmental Defense. "The glass is half full. We are optimistic that Duke can figure out how to meet all new demand with efficiency and renewables. Then the glass will be full to the brim."

A recent study done for the Utilities Commission estimates that 10 percent of the state’s energy demand could be offset with energy efficiency and renewable energy without raising rates. However, Duke officials told the Commission that the company has not fully explored, let alone implemented energy efficiency programs in this state. In fact, such programs make up a tiny percentage of the company’s portfolio.

Duke will now have to secure an air quality permit from the state before the project will be allowed to proceed. Based on emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants, as well as other environmental and public health impacts of the proposed expansion, SELC, Environmental Defense and partner groups will oppose those permits. As SELC Attorney Gudrun Thompson explained, “We remain opposed to construction of dirty coal technology at Cliffside because of the effect it would have on global warming and human health, and will use every legal tool at our disposal to fight this proposal to the bitter end.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Environmental Defense, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), the N. C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NC WARN), and the N. C. Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA) joined together to urge the Commission to deny the certificate based largely on the proposed expansions’ emissions of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. No carbon dioxide controls now exist for old-style, pulverized coal units such as those proposed at Cliffside, and none are expected on the market in the near future. Furthermore, Duke officials said they have no plans to control the facility’s emissions of carbon dioxide and that the company will seek to have the expansion “grandfathered” under any future federal law that would require control of such emissions.