POWER May 2022 Intl - 20

UTILITY SPOTLIGHT
place the need for contractors. "
Duke Energy's precarious attempts to
strike the right balance between reliability,
affordability, and sustainability aren't
without risks, however. " Duke Energy's
results of operations depend, in significant
part, on the extent to which it can
implement its business strategy successfully, "
the company acknowledges. " Duke
Energy's clean energy strategy, which
includes achieving net-zero carbon emissions
from electricity generation by 2050,
modernizing the regulatory construct,
transforming the customer experience,
and digital transformation, is subject to
business, policy, regulatory, technology,
economic and competitive uncertainties
and contingencies-many of which are
beyond its control and may make those
goals difficult to achieve, " it says.
The company is especially wary of federal
or state policies that could " restrict
the availability of fuels or generation
technologies, " such as natural gas (Figure
4) or nuclear power, limit retirements, or
limit investments in new capacity. It also
actively advocates for supportive policies
that could facilitate siting and cost
recovery of transmission and distribution
upgrades needed to build out large volumes
of renewable and energy storage.
In addition, the company has highlighted
concerns about labor procurement constraints,
including shortages, that may
be needed to build new generation on
time and on budget. As with other utilities,
Duke Energy also faces a decline
in customer demand-owing to energy
efficiency measures and advances in distributed
generation-cybersecurity risks,
and environmental litigation, including
from ESG concerns.
Continuing a Legacy of Innovation
Yet another prominent risk involves
gambles on technologies that aren't yet
commercially available, or are unproven
at utility scale, but which could reshape
its investment strategy if successful. " If
these technologies are not developed or
are not available at reasonable prices, or
if we invest in early-stage technologies
that are then supplanted by technological
breakthroughs, Duke Energy's ability
to achieve a net-zero target by 2050 at a
cost-effective price could be at risk, " the
company notes.
So far, the company has embarked on
a careful vetting of an array of emerging
technologies. Duke Energy is, for
example, partnering with Siemens and
Clemson University on a Department of
Energy-backed study to evaluate hydro20
4.
The Asheville Combined Cycle Station in Arden, North Carolina, is one of Duke Energy's
newest gas-fired power plants. The $817 million facility, which began operating in July 2020,
is a two-unit facility with a total capacity of 560 MW. The station normally runs on natural gas,
but can also burn diesel fuel when necessary. Courtesy: Duke Energy
gen integration and utilization at Duke
Energy's Clemson combined heat and
power plant. The pilot project, which began
in March 2021, is evaluating 30%
co-firing of hydrogen in 2024 and 100%
firing of hydrogen on or before 2030.
Hydrogen's allure is entrenched is a longer-term
play for the company's sizable
natural gas fleet as well as for energy
storage, Good suggested in February.
Under another project, Duke Energy
is testing Honeywell's new flow battery
technology, which can store and discharge
electricity for up to 12 hours-exceeding
the duration of four-hour lithium-ion batteries.
Honeywell is expected to deliver
a 400-kWh unit to Duke Energy's Emerging
Technology and Innovation Center in
North Carolina this year. Duke Energy also
plans to begin testing an EOS zinc-bromine
Znyth Gen 3.0 battery in late 2022.
For now, however, Duke Energy is
doubling down on its existing nuclear
fleet, buoyed by its noteworthy performance
and low-carbon attributes. Good
in February suggested Duke Energy's six
nuclear plants in the Carolinas may factor
heavily in a carbon plan it intends to file
in May 2022 to comply with North Carolina's
House Bill 951, landmark legislation
that provides a framework to achieve
a 70% carbon reduction by 2030. The
company has since 2019 explored subsequent
license renewals (SLRs) for all
of its 11 reactors, which are sited at the
six nuclear plants.
In 2021, the company filed its first
SLR application for the three-unit 2.5-GW
Oconee plant in Seneca, South Carolina,
in a bid to keep that plant open until 2054.
Meanwhile, recently announced federal
tax incentives for nuclear could prove
" very favorable " from a cash flow standpoint,
Good noted in February. However,
if Duke Energy embarks on future new
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nuclear builds, they will likely be smaller,
advanced reactors. As Good noted in
February, smaller reactors appear much
more attractive than " a 10-year journey
to build a large-scale nuclear reactor. "
Duke Energy already provides consulting
and " advisory in-kind " services
for the 500-MW Natrium sodium-cooled
fast reactor plant at PacifiCorp's Naughton
Power Plant site in Wyoming, a TerraPower
and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
project that is expected to be operational
by 2028. The company has also been
working with other advanced nuclear developers,
including Holtec and NuScale,
for potential investment in the 2030s,
Good said.
Asked about a timeframe for Duke Energy
to begin incorporating these technologies
in its business, Good said the
" awareness " of what might be possible
with hydrogen; advanced nuclear; and
carbon capture, storage, and utilization
(CCUS) is already part of conversations
with all its regulators. " The good news
is we believe we have runway with existing
technologies to achieve the majority
of our aspirations around clean energy
transition over the next five years or so, "
she said. These technologies could begin
to grow more significantly in the 2030s
when it " would be more important to get
to net-zero and the next tranche of carbon
reduction, " she added.
" And so, I think time will tell on whether
they get to commercial scale, " she
said. However, the company intends to
" be thoughtful, working with stakeholders
and our regulators before we begin
introducing any of these technologies,
so that we have a common view of what
we would like to achieve and invest in to
meet our goals, " she said. ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER senior
associate editor.
POWER | May 2022

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POWER May 2022 Intl

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