Peak energy demand will determine the capacity of Duke Energy’s planned upgrades at the company’s Lake Julian power plant, according to speakers at a panel discussion on WNC’s future energy needs on Feb. 3. Speakers stressed the importance of partnerships between Duke Energy, local government and community partners to reduce demand and delay or eliminate a third new natural gas-fired generation unit planned for the Lake Julian site.
State Senator Tom Apodaca (R) and Robert Sipes, General Manager for Duke Energy’s western zone, discussed Duke Energy’s revised Western Carolinas Modernization Plan with a crowd of local business leaders at a meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners on Nov. 12.
When the fight began, no one knew whether public opposition could kill Duke Energy’s proposed 40-mile transmission line from a new substation in Campobello, South Carolina to a massive new gas-fired power generation plant at Lake Julian in Skyland. Now that Duke has changed course, energy activists celebrate and refocus.
“Truth telling is risky business. The science tells us that if we don’t quickly change our energy infrastructure, it’s very likely that our children will inherit a dangerously warm world.”
