Duke Energy has submitted its 2025 Carolinas Resource Plan to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, outlining a strategy for meeting rising electricity demand in North and South Carolina. The plan is designed to support economic growth while maintaining reliability and controlling costs for customers.
The company projects that customer bill impacts will average 2.1% annually over the next decade, which is below the rate of inflation and lower than previous projections. Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, stated, “North Carolina is the top state for business, and our focus is on ensuring Duke Energy’s low energy rates continue to support this region’s economic success. By expanding our diverse generation portfolio and maximizing our existing power plants to meet growth needs, we will ensure reliable energy while saving all our customers money.”
Electricity demand across the Carolinas is expected to grow at eight times the rate seen over the past 15 years. In 2025 alone, new projects in North Carolina have brought more than 25,000 jobs and $19 billion in investments, much of it from manufacturing.
The plan includes updates reflecting recent state and federal policy changes. These include legislative emphasis on reliability as well as new federal regulations and tax credits supporting advanced nuclear technology, battery storage solutions, continued coal flexibility, and new natural gas capacity.
Key resource actions proposed in the plan are:
– Evaluating both large light-water reactors (LLWR) and small modular reactors (SMRs) for potential deployment by 2037 at sites such as Belews Creek in North Carolina or W.S. Lee in South Carolina.
– Maintaining five combined-cycle natural gas units as previously modeled with an increase in combustion turbines from five to seven units.
– Targeting 4,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2034 through competitive bidding processes.
– Expanding battery storage targets to 5,600 megawatts by 2034—an increase of nearly double compared to prior plans—to help meet short-term growth.
– Limiting wind development due to current economic viability assessments but leaving open future reassessment.
– Delaying further expansion of pumped storage hydro at Bad Creek until closer to 2040.
– Extending operations at certain dual-fuel coal units for two-to-four years following eased federal restrictions before a planned exit from coal generation.
Bowman added: “We’ve also made further progress in maximizing the value of existing resources, making them more efficient and able to deliver more electricity to meet near-term growth needs while minimizing costs to customers.”
Specific initiatives include adding nearly 300 MW of clean capacity through uprates at four nuclear stations; upgrading Bad Creek pumped storage by another 280 MW; recommending upgrades at seven other hydro plants; and modernizing natural gas assets for improved efficiency.
The plan builds upon Duke Energy’s previously approved resource strategy from 2023. Since then, Duke Energy has sought regulatory approval to combine its two electric utilities operating in each state—Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) and Duke Energy Progress (DEP). If approved, this merger could save customers over $1 billion by reducing infrastructure needs compared with operating separately.
Hearings on the resource plan are scheduled for 2026 before a final order is issued by December that year. An updated filing will also be submitted later this year with South Carolina regulators based on this latest plan.
Duke Energy Carolinas supplies electricity across a service area spanning both states with a capacity of 20,800 megawatts serving about 2.9 million customers. Duke Energy Progress covers a similar region with a capacity of 13,800 megawatts serving approximately 1.8 million customers.
Parent company Duke Energy serves millions across six states with total electric capacity exceeding 55 gigawatts. The company continues investing heavily in grid modernization efforts along with cleaner generation sources including renewables and energy storage.
