Duke Energy outlines plan to provide more clean energy to customers

Duke Energy outlined the steps this week it will take to provide affordable and increasingly clean energy to its customers into the future.

In a new report, Duke Energy, one of the largest providers of energy in the country, discussed initiatives to mitigate risks from climate change, reduce emissions, navigate policy uncertainty, and plan future investments.

“Duke Energy is building a smarter, cleaner energy future for our customers and communities by investing in new technologies to modernize and diversify our system,” Lynn Good, Duke Energy’s chairman, president and CEO, said. “We are pleased to share this report with shareholders and others who are interested in learning more about our commitment to continue lowering carbon emissions.”

Among the initiatives, Duke expects more than 80 percent of its generation mix to come from zero and lower CO2-emitting sources.

Specifically, it will continue to invest in nuclear energy, which is called a zero CO2 emissions option, and expand its production of renewables and natural gas. Duke will invest $11 billion between now and 2026 in new natural gas-fired, wind and solar generation.

It will also invest $25 billion over the next decade to create a smarter, more resilient electrical grid with smart grid technologies. This will enable to company to enable more renewables.

These changes will promote more energy efficiency, the report stated. The company expects cumulative energy savings to grow to 22,000 gigawatt hours by 2030, which is the equivalent to the annual usage of 1.8 million homes.

The company’s current carbon goal to reduce CO2 emissions 40 percent by 2030.