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Duke Energy is doubling down with its investment in a North Carolina county as it seeks to reduce its carbon footprint.
The Charlotte-based utility giant on Wednesday filed a plan with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to build a second hydrogen-capable natural gas plant in Person County at its Roxboro Plant on Hyco Lake.
Plans for the 1,360-megawatt plant come after Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) in August announced it would build a hydrogen-capable natural gas plant with the same capacity at its coal-powered Roxboro site as part of a plan to retire its coal plants by 2035. The company says it wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Kendal Bowman, North Carolina president for Duke, said the company's filing comes as electric demand is soaring rapidly in the state. She noted that the the peak load growth by 2030 is eight times the growth the company projected just two years ago.
"Our filing outlines additional resources necessary to get the job done and help North Carolina retain its leadership in both economic development and the clean energy transition," Bowman said in a video announcing the investment Wednesday. "This additional growth is unprecedented — historic in size and speed. So to meet customers' needs, we're proposing to accelerate every resource available to us."
Duke spokesman Bill Norton told Triangle Business Journal the Roxboro site will be home to two of "the most advanced power plants in Duke Energy's fleet. He added that Duke accounts for roughly 20 percent of Person County's tax base.
"We’re prioritizing existing plant communities to leverage our existing transmission system, workforce and infrastructure, which will lower the cost of the energy transition for customers," Norton said about why Duke decided to invest in a second plant in Person County.
Norton said it's too early for cost estimates for constructing the new plants. But he said they will have 60 to 80 full-time employees as well as more than 1,500 part-time employees. He said construction is scheduled to start on both plants at the end of 2025 – pending approval by the North Carolina Utilities Commission – and that the gas plants will have half the carbon emissions of the coal plant they're replacing. Norton said the coal plant will be demolished, with two coal units to retire in 2028 and the other two in 2033, subject to regulatory approval.
Gas will be provided by Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D), according to Norton. Dominion Energy North Carolina, a subsidiary of the Virginia-based company, is currently working to build a $400 million liquified natural gas facility in Person County.
The announcement from Duke Energy comes after the company said earlier this month that it would be laying off an undisclosed number of workers as part of a reorganization focused on shifting the organization toward clean energy.
This is the latest investment in Person County, which has leveraged commitments from energy companies to bolster its GDP growth. Between 2021 and 2022 — the latest available timeframe for county-level GDP data — Person County saw a real GDP growth of 4.4 percent, according to data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. That puts Person County well-above the North Carolina average of 2 percent and lands it at No. 10 among the 100 counties in the state, as well as the top county in the Greater Triangle region.
Ben Tobin covers real estate and economic development in the Greater Triangle, focusing on the counties outside Wake and Durham. Have a tip? Reach him at btobin@bizjournals.com or (919) 327-1012.
