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.
Duke/Kochs' Control of Government
Duke Energy and others in the energy industry consistently use deceptive public relations – and millions of customer dollars – to distort the debate over important decisions. Duke’s control over NC state government is significant. We must face this “inconvenient truth” in order to make the shift to clean, safe energy. This corporate influence has, in the words of Dr. James Hansen, wounded our democracy.
Particularly egregious are efforts by Duke, the Koch brothers and other industry powers to slow the growth of solar energy and, in North Carolina, to prevent competition from third-party providers of no-upfront-cost solar deals that put solar energy within reach of many more homeowners and businesses. Another good example of corporate power is the passage in some states of Construction Work in Progress laws that allow utilities to charge customers in advance for building expensive new plants that aren’t even needed.
In 2015, Duke Energy, the Koch Brothers and others successfully kept the Energy Freedom bill bottled up in committee at the NC legislature. The bill would have opened up NC to third-party solar deals. Read about our 2015 Duke Hates Solar campaign in support of the bill.
Read about our Solar Freedom project at Faith Community Church in Greensboro — a test case in the state’s ban on third-party sales of electricity.
Direct Appeals for Dialogue with Duke Energy
NC WARN has repeatedly reached out to Duke Energy executives, seeking to collaborate with them on moving away from obstructionism and toward a clean energy future. A few examples are listed here.
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Court Signals Timing isn’t Right for Suit against State and Regulators over Court Access and Duke Energy Fast-track Law — News Release from NC WARN
NC WARN also contends that the NC Utilities Commission shielded itself from an appeals court review of the $1 billion Duke Energy project by invoking a never before used law from 1965 to require a $98 million bond that locked the courthouse doors to NC WARN and its nonprofit partner, The Climate Times. No other state allows regulators to use a bond to block a power plant appeal.
Group loses last challenge to Duke Energy’s Asheville natural gas plant – Charlotte Business Journal
Solar-Church Test Case Filed at NC Supreme Court — NC WARN News Release
Today, attorneys for NC WARN filed a detailed appeal arguing that the nonprofit should be allowed to resume selling solar power to Greensboro’s Faith Community Church from a system installed on the roof of the church in 2015. Several national groups joined forces to support the solar sales by filing an amicus brief in the case.
North Carolina’s Solar Market Gripped by Growing Pains, as Gigawatts of Projects Are Planned – Greentech Media
Environmentalists just gained a new enemy in the fight against natural gas pipelines — ThinkProgress
Harvey Didn’t Come Out of the Blue. Now is the Time to Talk About Climate Change — The Intercept
Natural gas building boom fuels climate worries, enrages landowners – Center for Public Integrity
But Robert Howarth, an environmental biology professor at Cornell University, estimates that methane emissions produced by shale gas from wellhead to delivery could add up to a 12-percent leak rate — causing substantially more warming in the short term than coal. Howarth sees the rapid rise in gas development as a contributor to the recent spike in global temperatures, including record-breaking heat waves in 2015 and 2016. “The buildout of pipelines,” he said, “is a true climate disaster.”
Giant Rate Hike by Duke Energy Must Be Openly Debated, NC WARN tells Regulators and Attorney General — News Release from NC WARN
Rooftop Solar Dims Under Pressure From Utility Lobbyists — New York Times
Over the past six years, rooftop solar panel installations have seen explosive growth… That growth has come to a shuddering stop this year… A number of factors are driving the reversal… But the decline has also coincided with a concerted and well-funded lobbying campaign by traditional utilities, which have been working in state capitals across the country to reverse incentives for homeowners to install solar panels.