Making Energy Work for North Carolina
More than 200 clean energy executives, advocates, and stakeholders gathered in Raleigh, North Carolina, this fall for the Making Energy Work conference, hosted by the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA). The event convened industry leaders to explore the latest policy and regulatory opportunities and challenges in decarbonizing the electrical, transportation, and building sectors.
Featured discussion topics included the role of sound policy in driving economic growth, clean energy strategies in the face of a disaster, updates on North Carolina’s clean energy programs, permitting and siting challenges, and solutions to minimize ratepayer impact during periods of high energy demand.
Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) Executive Director Ryan Evans participated in a panel on long-lead electrical generation resources, exploring their role in meeting growing energy demands along with their economic benefits and risks. Long-lead resources, in the context of this discussion, were about energy generation resources that require significant development timelines, such as offshore wind, nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture, and pumped hydro storage.
For North Carolina, the discussion focused primarily on small modular nuclear reactors, offshore wind, and pumped hydro storage—key technologies highlighted in the Duke Energy Carolinas Resource Plan. Joining Evans were executives from the Department of Energy’s Loans Program, Duke Energy, and Pew Charitable Trusts, with the conversation exploring the likelihood of these resources coming into play, their associated timelines, and their potential to drive economic growth in North Carolina.
Takeaways:
Duke is exploring integrating small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), offshore wind, and potentially pumped hydro storage into their energy resource mix.
Of the above, offshore wind offers the most immediate potential for integration, as it is a mature resource in Europe and is currently being developed in Northeastern states.
While Duke is confident in its ability to integrate SMRs into the North Carolina grid, the timeline remains highly uncertain due to the technology's lack of development in the U.S. and its potential costs.
Offshore wind offers significant economic benefits for North Carolina, including private and public capital investments, job creation, affordable energy generation, reliable production to meet growing demand, and expansive supply chain opportunities.