Duke Energy, opponents: N.C. must define 'renewable'

N.C. regulators will hold a hearing in July that could affect Duke Energy Carolinas’ plans to convert some coal-fired plants to biomass units.

At issue is which fuels qualify as biomass under a 2007 state law that requires utilities to produce some of the power they sell from renewable sources.

Duke wants a broad definition. In tests that used both coal and biomass fuel to fire power plants, its biomass material consisted of waste wood and wood chips. Some of the wood came from whole trees Duke cleared near one of its coal plants for construction of a pond to retain coal ash.

Environmental groups contend such wood shouldn’t qualify as biomass fuel. They say counting whole trees as waste wood, listed in the law as a biomass fuel, could broaden the fuels beyond the law’s original intent.

The Southern Environmental Law Center notes the trees Duke used in its test weren’t replaced. Thus, it argues, the resource was not renewed and should not qualify as renewable.

Gudrun Thompson, staff attorney for the center, says her organization wants to make sure proper environmental safeguards are in place if the commission is going to allow the use of whole trees. Those could include requiring that trees are replaced, either on-site or elsewhere.

She notes the state Environmental Management Commission has recommended that the legislature clarify what qualifies as renewable fuel from wood.

Read the full story in the Charlotte Business Journal.