Our Thoughts on Henderson County’s Endorsement of Duke Energy’s Plans

On January 4, 2016, Henderson County Commissioners passed a resolution that “fully and wholeheartedly support Duke Energy in its efforts” to replace the current 376-megawatt coal plant in Asheville with a super-sized 752-megawatt(MW) natural gas plant. The proposed updated Western Carolinas Modernization Project includes two 280-MW turbines that would be built by 2019 as well an additional 192-MW unit tentatively planned for 2023. Duke Energy has yet to file an official application to the Utilities Commission, which will decide whether or not the plant can be built. Without an application, the public has yet to see Duke Energy’s justification for almost doubling the region’s energy supply and locking in a long-term commitment to fossil fuels when cleaner, cheaper options may be available — not to mention why all that capacity needs to be approved immediately. We have a lot of questions and concerns about the plan, including the extra 192-MW unit Duke Energy says they hope to avoid by ramping up energy efficiency measures in the region. Trying to get the third unit approved now seems like building in a back door rather than being all in on efficiency measures. This is just one of the questions we’re seeking answers to in our legal proceedings in partnership with Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center. Since the “Modernization” project was announced we’ve been asking for complete information from Duke Energy, so that we, the public, and local officials can make truly informed decisions about the best energy future for our region. These are complex issues that we think deserve full scrutiny. For example, the Commissioners’ resolution stated “the need for the new Foothills transmission lines and the negative impact those would have is mitigated by this modernization project.” Some might understand that to mean the only two choices are the plant as proposed now or the lines are back on the table. But without an application on the table, decision makers and the public don’t yet have the full picture. Duke has said the third unit may not even be necessary, and what made the lines obsolete was replacing the originally proposed 650-MW unit into two smaller units. According to Duke, the lines would have provided back up if the one large plant went down, but the two smaller units would provide that service under the revised proposal–not the third “peaking” unit. Here is the statement that MountainTrue member and energy taskforce leader George Tregay read to Henderson County Commissioners before they voted on the resolution to support Duke Energy’s current plans:

We offer the following comments on the proposed resolution and to clarify MountainTrue’s position regarding our recent filing to intervene into the Public Utility Commission proceedings on Duke Energy’s proposed Modernization Plan. Please do not interpret our intervention into those proceedings as opposition to the entire plan. As we indicated last year, we are pleased that Duke scrapped its original plans for a larger plant and transmission lines and came back with a new and better plan. We thanked them loudly and publicly for listening to our community. We do have concerns about Duke’s proposal, including the 190-MW peaker plant in this application. Duke has committed to working with local governments and partners to avoid construction of this additional unit seven years from now, and we want Duke to give those efforts 100% of its efforts and apply to build the additional facility only if those efforts are not successful. We are committed to working with Duke to meet the needs of residents, businesses and industry in Henderson County and throughout Western North Carolina. Indeed, we are already at the table and working as a partner with Duke Energy, to improve the accessibility and success rate for energy efficiency and demand side management programs. We hope the Henderson County Commissioners will join us at the table and work toward a future that provides cleaner, safer and cheaper energy for generations to come. As a region, Duke has offered us the opportunity to chart a different course, and we invite you to be part of creating a future that does not include an additional gas-fired unit at Lake Julian. Therefore, we respectfully ask that you revise your resolution to ask that, at a minimum, Duke forestall seeking approval for construction of the 192-MW “peaking unit” at this time and to instead work diligently with local governments and other partners to meet our future demand through expanded energy efficiency programs and building more renewable energy infrastructure. If our collective efforts fail, Duke can always apply for approval of the new unit in the future Duke Energy is on the record saying that this is their intent, and we hope you will join us in holding them to it. Pass a resolution in support of Duke Energy’s Western Carolinas Modernization Project, but please reserve your support for the third, hopefully unnecessary, peaking unit.