Political Shift Endangers Green Energy in North Carolina

Raleigh, N.C. — A shift in the political winds in the Tar Heel State may just give green building advocates heartburn. The democrat-controlled legislature passed a state energy law mandating use of renewable power sources and energy-efficiency programs in 2007, but the times are changing, as republicans have regained a solid majority and also hold the keys to the governor’s mansion. Governor Pat McCrory campaigned on a platform supporting offshore drilling and inland oil shale fracking, which would appear to indicate a different path to energy independence.

With that said, the governor’s affinity for oil is not necessarily be correlated with a distaste for all green energy programs, as he has also supported offshore wind farms, arguing that North Carolina has a healthy wind turbine component manufacturing industry. This means the state’s Republican Party might have a united front in terms of expanding oil, but could be more divided on the topic of eliminating the emphasis on green energy sources.

The current law obligates energy utilities to use renewable energies in their portfolios, including solar, wind and methane gas from landfills, in addition to rewarding customers for purchasing energy-efficient appliances.

The two main figures in the debate will likely be the governor and Representative Mike Hager, the current chair of the state’s House Public Utilities Committee. Both men have a long back-story in this area, as Hager worked for Duke Energy, one of the two largest utilities in the state, for 17 years, while McCrory was there even longer, clocking in at 29 years of service to the energy giant.

Hager and his allies have argued that clean energy laws raise electricity rates for customers by forcing utilities to include expensive form of power generation in their portfolios instead of focusing on the cheapest way to keep the lights on. Their current goal is to freeze the current regulations so that utilities need to maintain the 2012 level of renewable energy, in which green power sources would provide 3 percent of the state’s electricity. As currently written, the law raises that requirement to 12.5 percent in the current year.

Interestingly enough, the utility companies have maintained a neutral position and have refrained from throwing their resources behind movements to repeal or change the law in the past. This is primarily because the companies have already invested in long-term contracts for recently installed renewable energy facilities and don’t want to risk losing their ability to charge customers an extra dollar per month to help finance those projects, which is also part of the current law.