The Sierra Club’s fifth annual "Dirty Truth" report gave Duke Energy’s Carolina operations an F for clean energy production. The report compares resource plans for 75 utilities across the U.S.
The environmental group’s Mikaela Curry said the companies rely too heavily on natural gas and not enough on solar and wind energy. She said the utility would need to transition new and existing natural gas generators to hydrogen fuel or implement carbon capture to meet North Carolina’s 2050 carbon neutrality deadline.
Neither technology is currently commercially viable in North Carolina, and existing research does not show that natural gas pipelines can transport hydrogen without major modifications.
“We have proven, available technologies, and we’re not seeing Duke bring them on the grid at the pace and scale that we need,” Curry said.
Across all its territories, Duke Energy ranks second among utilities for the most new natural gas planned by 2035. It's North Carolina and South Carolina companies placed third, behind Georgia Power and Tennessee Valley Authority, with plans to add 3,620 megawatts of natural gas generation during the next seven years.
Curry said the poor grade also reflects risks for ratepayers. Fuel prices caused two-thirds of electric bill increases for Duke Energy Carolinas ratepayers over the last seven years, according to a 2024 report by the Environmental Defense Fund.
“The customers bear those fuel costs, not the utility,” Curry said. “Whereas if you’re bringing solar and battery storage online, there’s no associated fuel costs with those.”
Duke also lost points for not retiring its coal plants by 2030. Last year, state regulators ordered Duke to retire its remaining coal-powered plants by 2036.
But North Carolina has since removed its 2030 carbon-pollution reduction target, leaving the door open for more delays to those scheduled retirements.
