in the meantime NC Sustainable Energy Association held its annual meeting last week World Meteorological Organization The troubling news has been announced that levels of all three major greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) will hit record highs in 2021.
of The United Nations also sounded the alarmThe Earth is on pace to increase the average global temperature by 2.1 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (3.7 to 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, set by the multinational Paris Exceeded target of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). agreement.
This global scenario has set the backdrop for North Carolina’s move toward clean energy at the hands of Duke Energy and the state’s Public Utility Commission.
The committee is expected to decide on Duke Energy’s carbon plan by the end of the year. The plan, as set forth in House Bill 951, requires utilities to meet legally mandated carbon reductions (70{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} by 2030 relative to 2005 levels) every two years. Set the course that can be modified to. enacted last year.
“What we do in the next two to five years is critical to achieving these goals and isolating toll payers. [from high energy costs]”But we also need to prepare ourselves to hit the 30-year target trajectory,” Maggie Shover, research director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said at the conference. I was.
House Bill 951 requires Duke Energy to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Many have criticized Duke Energy, saying the utility’s plans are too passive to pursue such cuts. In addition to offshore wind and solar power, utilities still rely on natural gas as a so-called “bridge fuel” or are considering small but very expensive and untested modular nuclear reactors. .
Duke Energy’s own documents, based on research commissioned by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, demonstrating not only the feasibility but also the need for ambitious clean energy investments. But Duke Energy didn’t release the study until a week after his evidence hearing on the carbon plan by the Public Utilities Commission. This means that the reports are not available to clean energy groups or other stakeholders for their own analysis.
Tyler Norris, vice president of development at Cypress Creek Renewables, said:
Adding gigawatts of renewable energy to the grid is undoubtedly a tremendous feat of planning, permitting, and engineering.
But Duke’s transmission system is ill-equipped to handle this complexity, said Steve Levitas, senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs at Pinegate Renewables. This moves energy from where it is generated (future offshore wind turbines and even solar development-ripped areas of eastern North Carolina) to urban and suburban areas where most people live. difficult to move.
It also said there are technologies, such as lightweight conductive materials, to get more electricity from existing transmission lines “without large capital expenditures” to keep the energy costs of rate payers low. Levitas said.
“Will the transmission be built in time for alternative energy sources?” said Adam Foodman, CEO of Charlotte-based Aderis Energy.
Take a closer look at the world’s greenhouse gases and renewable energy in North Carolina.
415.7 ppm – Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in 2021, equivalent to 149{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} of pre-industrial levels
262{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – The amount by which global methane concentrations will exceed pre-industrial levels in 2021
124{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – The amount by which global nitrous oxide concentrations will exceed pre-industrial levels in 2021
96{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – North Carolina electricity supplied by Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress
Four{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – Supply from Dominion Energy
70{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – Duke Energy’s carbon footprint reduction mandate by 2030 exceeds 2005 levels
60-77 – The average percentage of the state’s annual electricity load that can be met by carbon-free generation by that time — This depends on the number of solar installations, with Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolina operating in a single region rather than two separate regions. Depends on whether it is modeled as a region of the entity
75 – Share of total annual energy generated by wind, solar and existing nuclear power by 2030
60 – gigawatts of utility-scale solar PV needed by 2050, or 2.2 gigawatts per year. That’s four times his amount that Duke Energy has deployed in Carolina each year since 2014.
1.7-2.5 – Estimated tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents released by methane leaks annually from 2024 to 2036 – This means Duke will deploy more natural gas to compensate for the retirement of its remaining coal-fired power plants It depends on whether or not
Communicated as “red zone”: A region of eastern North Carolina and South Carolina with flat, sparsely populated, sunny but restricted power grids.
3,500 – Megawatt solar procurement (or 70{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c}) in the known “red zone”
$560 million – How much money Duke Energy plans to spend on spreading the infection in the Red Zone
environmental justice index
61 – Percentage of white workers in North Carolina’s clean energy industry
8 – Who are the blacks
16.5 – Who is Latino
40{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} – Percentage of U.S. solar viable rooftop space in low-to-middle-income residential accounts
$110,000 – Median income for US rooftop solar “solar adapters”. Compared to the wider population, solar adopters are non-Hispanic Caucasian, predominantly English-speaking, have higher levels of education, are middle-aged, and are more likely to be in business and finance-related occupations. tend to live in higher-value homes that are occupied. , according to Berkeley Lab on Electricity Markets and Policy.
Source: National Renewable Energy Lab, NC Utilities Commission, United Nations, World Meteorological Organization, Berkeley Lab on Electricity Markets and Policy
