NC WARN is pleased for every new amount of solar installed in North Carolina – and hope it helps the solar power industry get more business. But we urge the news media to put Duke Energy’s newly announced rebate program into perspective:
- The annual commitment is less than CEO Lynn Good’s annual $13.5 million salary.
- The five-year total rebate is 1.7% of Duke customers’ share of the proposed $6 billion Atlantic Coast gas Pipeline.
- The annual rebate cap of 20 MW, totaled for five years, is 1.1% of the fracked natural gas generation Duke plans to build over the next 15 years.
- The annual commitment is 0.06% of the minimum amount Duke hoped to spend building the now-cancelled Lee Nuclear Station, a failed 12-year effort.
Despite all the image ads and deceptive PR, Duke Energy’s generation in the Carolinas remains under 2% renewable. In 2031, Duke plans to be at only 6%.
To be clear, Duke Energy is not merely “making the transition to clean power more slowly than some would like to see,” a common PR refrain.
With its huge expansion of climate-wrecking fracked gas, Duke Energy is pushing humanity headlong toward runaway climate change – while doing just enough renewable power to make people think it’s a green corporation.