CHARLOTTE — A North Carolina bill aimed at addressing the impact of growing data center demand is drawing pushback from environmental advocates over language they say could delay planned coal plant retirements. Senate Bill 730, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, targets concerns tied to data centers, including energy use, environmental impacts, and electric bills, but critics warn one provision could keep coal-fired plants online for years while the state waits on new nuclear generation.
“In our view, that gets things backwards,” said Will Scott, the North Carolina policy director for the Environmental Defense Fund.
Scott said he was disappointed to see that in a bill that claimed to focus on energy affordability and data centers.
The legislation would prevent the retirement of so-called base load power plants until progress is made on a new nuclear facility.
“The way it was written is not specific for coal plants or any other type of plant,” said Rep. Matthew Winslow, R-Franklin. “We specified base load, because the main thing we want to make sure is that we’re not retiring any other base load plants until we have new nuclear or other base loads to replace it.”
When presenting the bill to the House Energy and Public Utilities Committee, one of its sponsors, Winslow, explained that the language isn’t specifically about keeping coal plants running.
However, Scott points out that there are no other plants slated for retirement.
Scott worries that keeping coal online would mean more pollution and higher maintenance costs that could be passed on to customers’ energy bills.
He believes nuclear can be a replacement, but shouldn’t be the only option.
“Usually, we leave that to the commission, because it’s such a complex, long-term planning task with a lot of cost unknowns,” Scott said.
Channel 9 is waiting for answers from lawmakers on the progress of building new nuclear means.
The bill specifies a specific permit to begin construction.
However, it could take another 10 or more years for the new nuclear to start generating electricity.
There are currently five operating coal plants in North Carolina.
At Marshall Steam Station just north of Charlotte, half of its coal units are scheduled for retirement before the end of 2028.
Duke Energy is planning to replace them with a new natural gas facility being built at the same site.
There are currently five operating coal plants in North Carolina.
At Marshall Steam Station just north of Charlotte, half of its coal units are scheduled for retirement before the end of 2028.
Duke Energy plans to replace them with natural gas facilities being built at the same sites.
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