Duke Energy’s renewable energy capacity grew by almost 20% in 2017, according to the company’s newly released sustainability report.
One of the company’s sustainability goals is to own or have under contract 8 GW of wind, solar and biomass capacity by 2020. Over the past year, the company has made strong progress toward that goal; its renewable energy capacity has grown from 5.4 GW to more than 6.4 GW, the equivalent of powering more than 1 million homes at peak production.
“Duke Energy continues to invest in cleaner energy, shifting from coal to natural gas with a greater reliance on renewable energy, reducing our environmental footprint and modernizing our energy grid to support new customer-focused technology,” comments Cari Boyce, senior vice president of stakeholder strategy and sustainability and president of Duke Energy Foundation.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is an energy holding company whose electric utilities and infrastructure business unit serves approximately 7.5 million customers in six states in the Southeast and Midwest.
Solar power currently makes up 52% of the company’s 6.4 GW of renewable capacity, while wind represents 38%, and biomass makes up 10%.
In addition, the company has more than 8.8 GW of nuclear capacity and 3.5 GW of hydroelectric and pumped storage hydro. Combining nuclear, renewables and hydroelectric power, about 40% of Duke Energy’s electric generation puts out no greenhouse emissions, the company notes.
Now in its 12th year, Duke Energy’s sustainability report also notes that the company’s carbon-dioxide emissions continue to drop – down 31% from 2005 levels with a 40% goal by 2030. In addition, the company claims its price per kilowatt-hour of electricity remains lower than the national average in all six states it serves retail electric customers.
More on the sustainability report can be found here.
