Chris Carmody, executive director at Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, says energy-intensive electricity customers will leave or not relocate to the Carolinas because of the difficulties they face buying their energy needs from the resource mix they prefer. There's "no tolerance for anything that resembles competition. And that really is to the detriment of economic development in the Carolinas," he said.
While North Carolina has a carbon-reduction plan in place, Carmody said it essentially cements Duke's monopoly into the future, and the utility's clean-energy investment plans rely on untested technologies, like small modular nuclear reactors, rather than the least-cost renewable energy options in the market. Rather than a threat to the utility's bottom line, "I think they really see [the carbon-reduction plan] as an opportunity to make a lot of money," he said.
Carmody sees South Carolina differently, describing the state's political atmosphere as leaning toward opening up wholesale power market competition by joining a regional transmission organization. "I think in terms of potential market development and discussion the Carolinas will be one of the most interesting places to watch over the next few years," he said.
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