Duke Energy’s Resource Plan Delays Wind Energy Development Until 2040s
For Immediate Release: October 2, 2025
Media Contact: Holly Elliott, hollye@sewind.org
Raleigh, N.C. — Yesterday morning, Duke Energy filed the 2025 combined Carbon Plan and Integrated Resource Plan (or Carolinas Resource Plan). The Carbon Plan is mandated through HB951 and requires the NCUC to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 using a least-cost approach.
Duke Energy’s preferred planning portfolio omits both offshore and onshore wind resources from the 2040 planning horizon. This decision reflects challenges with early site assessments, wind speed projections, and broader federal policy considerations, but it also raises questions about the Carolinas’ long-term energy diversity and the states’ role in advancing wind energy development. The approach effectively postpones meaningful wind energy development in the Carolinas for more than a decade, despite the technology being deployed elsewhere in the Southeast.
“Wind power has proven to be a cost-competitive, reliable resource in electricity markets across the country, including the portion of North Carolina that is outside of Duke’s territory,” said Katharine Kollins, President of Southeastern Wind Coalition. “A balanced resource portfolio is one that includes wind energy. Without it, we risk the success of the energy and economic futures of the Carolinas.”
Kollins added: “We have already seen electricity demand skyrocket across the Carolinas. By delaying the deployment of cost competitive, scalable resources like wind, we will find ourselves in a position where we are overly reliant on fuel sources that are prone to volatile price fluctuations. At the end of the day, those impacts fall on the consumer.”
Wind energy has been selected in previous plans submitted by Duke Energy, but policy shifts at both the state and federal levels have created uncertainty for wind energy development. In North Carolina, SB266 The Power Bill Reduction Act eliminated the mandate for Duke Energy to cut carbon emissions 70 percent by 2030. Recent actions by the Trump Administration mark a decisive shift away from federal support for wind, creating new hurdles in the form of accelerated timelines and complex sourcing rules.
As a result, Duke Energy’s preferred portfolio proposes an energy mix that will rely primarily on new natural gas, and solar until 2040, with new nuclear capacity not available until 2037. The plan also delays coal and natural gas retirements until 2040, despite a legislative mandate to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century. While the company maintains its commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, experts note that reduced near-term diversity in the generation mix may create affordability and reliability risks for consumers.
Duke Energy also projects that the electricity load forecast will see a 7% increase as compared to its 2024 Supplemental Planning Analysis, fueled by an influx of advanced manufacturing and data center investments, population growth, and electrification.
About SEWC
The Southeastern Wind Coalition is a 501(c)(3), nonpartisan organization that works to advance the land-based and offshore wind industry in the Southeast. We focus on providing fact-based information on the economic and environmental opportunities of wind energy, and encourage solutions that result in net economic benefits to residents and ratepayers. For more information about the Southeastern Wind Coalition, visit www.sewind.org
