Are the Winds of Change Blowing for North Carolina’s Wind Industry?

North Carolina has the potential to lead the nation in wind energy. According to Oceana, North Carolina has the highest offshore wind potential of all East Coast states, wind that could provide 112 percent of the state's electricity usage. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory also ranks North Carolina highest in East Coast wind potential, excluding Florida.

And it is not just offshore potential, according to the State Energy Office, North Carolina also has ‘fair to superior’ wind potential in its mountains and on its coast. Oceana estimates the state could save over $2 billion a year by switching from fossil fuels to wind energy.

So what is North Carolina doing with its wind potential? We’ve highlighted the current state of clean energy in North Carolina below and the history of how they got there.

The Current State of Climate Action and Clean Energy in North Carolina

In October 2018, Governor Roy Cooper issued an executive order on climate change calling for a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2025. The order directed the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to develop a Clean Energy Plan, and included a request to explore wind as an emission reduction avenue. The executive order also set in motion a cross-agency effort to compile the Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan.

The recently released Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience plan contains a strong call to action for climate change prevention and resilience. The report notes that there is a 90 to 100 percent chance that by the end of the century, North Carolina will experience larger changes in climate than at any other point in the state's history.

The state is at particular risk of sea level rise, flooding, increasing temperatures, increasing severe storms, and drought. These risks, coupled with aging infrastructure—including the electricity grid—and population growth, leave the state very vulnerable.

Despite its potential, wind power is only mentioned briefly in the report as a potential part of the solution to climate change risks. Indeed, in the 370-page report, there are only two mentions of wind power. As droughts increase, hydroelectric power will become less reliable and wind is mentioned as a potential non-centralized, non-water intensive solution to this problem. Wind is also mentioned as an alternative to traditional heat-intensive power plants which will become harder to cool as the state’s climate changes.

The report cites wind and solar, among other smaller decentralized power sources, as solutions to climate change, but notes that without better transmission and load-balancing capacity, energy produced from these resources may go to waste. One way to combat this issue is through microgrids, which work by connecting resources like wind or solar directly to local communities. Other general grid improvements would also increase access to clean energy and improve resilience to events such as floods or hurricanes.

Wind Power in the State Legislature

In June 2017, an 18-month moratorium on on-shore wind power was enacted as a last-minute addition to a solar power bill, citing the need to further examine potential harmful impacts on military bases before approving any more projects. When the moratorium expired in January 2019, only one planned wind-farm development was still in the works.

Despite the moratorium only applying to on-shore wind, it signaled to wind investors and manufacturers that the political climate in North Carolina was not welcoming. Even the remaining project, Kitty Hawk Wind, an offshore project, will likely sell the energy it produces to utilities in Virginia. The project is scheduled to go online in 2026, although it is still in the initial phases of development.

While support for wind power in the state has grown since 2017, some Congressional representatives still fear a negative impact on the state's military bases. In response to this concern, a second moratorium was suggested in 2019, but did not pass.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, the Department of Defense (DOD) reviews wind project proposals near bases to ensure there will be no negative interactions, and comes up with solutions if any issues are found. No project has been built without the DOD’s approval and there have not been any instances of completed projects interfering with military operations.

Transitioning to a Clean Energy Economy

North Carolina currently has only one commercial wind farm, the Amazon Wind Farm US East, which is owned by Avangrid Renewables and located in a rural area outside of Elizabeth City in the eastern part of the state. The 208 MW capacity project injects over $1 million into the local economy each year through lease payments and taxes, and created 250 temporary jobs during construction and 10 permanent jobs. The project was completed in 2016, not long before the legislature enacted the onshore wind moratorium.

In order to scale up wind energy production, the state needs to incentivize more development projects. Legislation promoting wind energy could help the state become more appealing to developers, which in turn could grow the clean energy market, reduce emissions, and increase resilience. According to the 2019 North Carolina Clean Energy Plan, the Department of Environmental Quality recognizes that stronger market signals are needed to increase wind development in the state and recommends taking legislative actions to foster development around the state’s offshore wind resources. Additionally, unlike other East Coast states, North Carolina must address its grid problems since the majority of North Carolina’s population lives inland. Programs improving grid stability and transmission will not only address a weakness noted in the Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience plan, but also help cut carbon dioxide emissions by improving the inland transmission of wind energy generated near the coast.

The failure of the second onshore wind moratorium bill in the state legislature, the Governor’s previous statements of support for wind and other renewables, and the Clean Energy Plan show that the state's political winds are blowing more favorably, and that it is not too late for North Carolina to become a wind energy leader.

Author: Bridget Williams