Sierra Club: Duke postpones plans for gas-fired peaker plant in Buncombe County

Press release from the Sierra Club:

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—The plan to build a new fracked gas plant at the Asheville coal plant site at Lake Julian has been postponed by at least four years, according to a Duke Energy Progress filing today with state regulators.

Duke’s plan to build a “peaker” gas plant that would be used during times of high demand has been pushed back from 2023 to 2027. Duke says the postponement is due to the company’s updated resource planning, as well as to the community’s push for more clean energy resources.

Duke specifically cited the the efforts of Energy Innovation Task Force (EITF), a group whose members represent Asheville City and Buncombe County Government, local businesses, nonprofits and environmental groups, including Sierra Club. Task force members recommend ways to reduce peak load in the region through demand response, energy efficiency and clean energy solutions.

In response to Duke’s filing, Kelly Martin, EITF task force member and associate director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, released the following statement:

“It’s great news that they’re postponing this project, but the better course is not to build this plant at all. Fracked gas has no place in a clean energy future.

“North Carolina ranks second in the nation for solar potential, trailing only California, and we should take full advantage of that resource. Duke should go all in on energy efficiency programs that would lower both demand and customers’ bills, and commit to replacing dirty, dangerous fossil fuels with 100 percent clean energy that protects our air, water and communities.”

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About Virginia Daffron
Managing editor, lover of mountains, native of WNC. Follow me @virginiadaffron

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One thought on “Sierra Club: Duke postpones plans for gas-fired peaker plant in Buncombe County

  1. Grant Millin

    The Sierra Club knowledge base on CleanTech and grid modernization is severely limited. Basically its too limiting to help with climate change and grid modernization at once. I enjoy being a Sierra Club but they need to promote some of the fundamental research that’s out there.

    The 2017 Duke Energy Progress Integrated Resources Plan looks even less honest than previous efforts. I did a petition to intervene on the 2016 IRP and I guess I will do another for the 2017 version… along with my WNC Grid Modernization Program petition that will be valid for even longer now it seems.

    By the way, there is no reason to give up on a NC Clean Power Plan that is even more robust than the outdated Obama Era EPA goals. Nothing will drive the GOP and their Duke Energy siblings more crazy than the NC Clean Power Plan coming back with vigor.

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