Duke drops wind turbine project

Duke Energy UNC offshore wind study assesses Pamlico Sound feasibility, permit hurdles, high turbine costs, shallow-water impacts, and shifts focus to larger, commercial-scale offshore wind farms along North Carolina's coast with a $405,000 funding commitment.

Duke Energy Corp. said that it has dropped plans to install demonstration wind turbines on the North Carolina coast, saying the project was too small to be worth the cost.

Duke Energy Carolinas had planned to install three wind turbines in the Pamlico Sound under a collaboration with the University of North Carolina. The company and the university hoped to study the potential for wind power generation off the state's coast, informed by the Iberdrola wind farm approval in North Carolina.

But Duke Energy said the fixed costs from obtaining permits, designing and constructing the small-scale project would be high, and alternatives like a $100 million solar investment offered clearer economies.

"The cost of the project simply exceeds the benefits our customers would receive if we were to continue," said Paul Newton, senior vice president of strategy for the company's franchised businesses, noting Duke's growing wind business elsewhere in the portfolio today.

Construction in shallow water would also have potentially disturbed underwater vegetation more than originally expected as solar plant plans progressed in parallel, the company said.

The company and university will instead focus on the study of larger scale, offshore wind farms, which Duke Energy said would be more commercially viable. That includes a $405,000 Duke Energy contribution to UNC's coast wind oceanside study and plans to increase solar next year across the Carolinas.

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