POWER

Carbon Plan Integrated Resource Plan (CPIRP)

In 2021, the NC General Assembly and Governor reached a bipartisan agreement to establish the first carbon emissions reduction goals for the electricity sector by a state in the Southeast. The agreement was enacted into law as House Bill 951: Energy Solutions for North Carolina (HB951). It requires Duke Energy to reduce carbon emissions by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To reach these statutory requirements, the law directs the NC Utilities Commission to develop the Carbon Plan and update the plan every two years. These carbon reduction goals can be achieved through pursuing advancements in power generation, transmission and distribution, grid modernization, storage and energy efficiency measures, demand-side management, and the latest technological breakthroughs that meet the least-cost criteria outlined in HB951 and transition away from relying on coal and gas power generation.

House Bill 951 (HB951)

House Bill 951: Energy Solutions for North Carolina (HB951) became law in October 2021, marking North Carolina’s largest energy policy milestone since the 2017 enactment of House Bill 589 (HB589). Like HB589, Energy Solutions for North Carolina first emerged from a House-led stakeholder process taking place over a several months. The bill underwent multiple versions in the House before the Senate made further changes to the bill, which were largely the result of negotiations between Senate leadership and the Governor’s office. NCSEA worked with lawmakers and fellow stakeholders from the beginning of the process all the way through to the final passage of HB951. Our team continues to work with stakeholders and various other parties throughout the implementation process. The following sections outline the major provisions of HB951 and the status of ongoing implementation efforts.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (SB3)

NCSEA helped to draft the original proposal for the state’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS), which was passed into law in 2007. Senate Bill 3 (SB3) established a requirement that each electric public utility in the state generate at least 12.5% of retail sales from renewable energy sources by 2021. The same bill also mandated that electric membership corporations and municipal utilities generate at least 10% of their retail electricity sales from renewable energy by 2018. SB3 further outlines targets for certain generation resources, including at least .20% from solar, .20% from swine waste resources, and 900,000 megawatt hours from poultry waste resources. REPS, combined with the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), helped to propel North Carolina onto the national leaderboard for clean energy deployment, reaching No. 2 in installed solar by 2019. Utilities across the state have met the requirements outlined under SB3, with the exception of swine waste provisions in the bill.

Transmission and Interconnection

There has been a recent unprecedented increase in the development of clean energy projects, making it vital to prioritize upgrades to transmission and distribution infrastructure and address the growing interconnection queue in tandem with expanding clean energy generation capacity. In the Southeastern region of North Carolina, there is a significant lack of transmission infrastructure (known as the transmission “red zone”), even though it’s where most existing utility-scale solar projects and available land for future large clean energy projects are located. To ensure these systems can successfully connect to the grid, improvements to the local transmission planning process and transparency must be made. To address these issues in North Carolina and South Carolina, the Carolinas Transmission Planning Collaborative was formed to enhance transmission planning by allowing stakeholders to participate in shaping the future transmission network. NCSEA is active in these meetings and seeks additional opportunities to improve North Carolina’s grid infrastructure and interconnection process.

Customer Programs

86 companies across North Carolina have established a goal of powering their operations with 100% renewable energy, and more companies with similar goals are moving to the state every day. It is critical that companies can easily procure clean energy to save on operational costs, meet sustainability goals, and satisfy investors and customers. As part of NCSEA’s efforts to support its business members and other companies in their decarbonization efforts, our team is engaging with partners and utilities on an ongoing basis about how to effectively design programs that adequately respond to the growth in customer demand for clean energy.

NCSEA is actively advocating at the NC Utilities Commission and NC General Assembly to create new programs to help customers lower costs, while meeting clean energy goals. Some programs currently available or under consideration, include Duke Energy’s Green Source Advantage Choice and the soon to be proposed Customer Clean Energy Tariff.

House Bill 589 (HB589)

House Bill 589 (HB589) was the result of a nine-month stakeholder process and became law in 2017, marking the first major piece of comprehensive energy legislation passed in North Carolina since SB3 in 2007. NCSEA worked on the initial passage of HB589 and is continuing to work with stakeholders throughout the rulemaking and implementation process. This bill included numerous provisions related to clean energy, altering the landscape for energy generation in the state. Notable additions included the new Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy program, authorizing a new RFP process for new utility-scale solar assets, the creation of the Green Source Advantage program, a residential solar rebate program, solar leasing, community solar, and a wind energy study. The bill also notably included an 18-month wind moratorium, preventing the issuance of permits for new wind energy projects by the NC Department of Environmental Quality. Full details can be found at the link below.