Cliffside permit revocation bid denied
Nov 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bruce Henderson The Charlotte
Observer, N.C.
The N.C. Utilities Commission today denied environmentalists' motion to
revoke Duke Energy's permit to expand its Cliffside coal-fired power
plant west of Charlotte.
The N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network had challenged the
commission's approval of the 800-megawatt expansion, which was granted
in 2007.
The challenge is potentially important to Duke's 1.8 million N.C.
customers because power plant construction costs are typically recovered
through electricity rates.
WARN claimed that completing the project was no longer in the public
interest. The need for the expansion, it said, is based on Duke's sales
of wholesale power, not the electricity demands of its Carolinas retail
customers.
Duke argued that there was no legal basis to revoke the permit, called a
certificate of public convenience and necessity. Despite slumping demand
for electricity, it said, the Cliffside expansion is still needed.
The utility commission's Public Staff, which advocates for customers,
sided with Duke.
In denying the WARN motion today, the commission found there is a
continued need for baseload power generation -- the workhorse
electricity producers such as coal-fired plants. It noted that Duke had
already invested $1.1 billion, through 2008, of the $1.8 billion
construction budget.
The order also noted that, in building the new unit at Cliffside, Duke
had agreed to retire older, dirtier boilers and invest 1 percent of its
retail revenues in energy efficiency and demand-curbing programs.
The commission added, however, that today's order does not approve the
Cliffside's costs in regard to rate-making. A proposal now before the
commission would raise Duke's N.C. rates 8 percent over two years, in
part to pay financing costs for the Cliffside project.
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