The North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill that would regulate data centers, and prohibit Duke Energy from retiring coal- or gas-fired power plants until it obtains a permit to build a nuclear plant.
The legislation, Senate Bill 730, now named the Ratepayer Protection Act, was amended and passed in the House in a 69-44 vote on June 3. The amended bill has been returned to the state Senate where it is awaiting action. It was referred to the state Senate Rules and Operations Committee.
For powering the data centers, nuclear power would be required to generate electricity for these data centers once the coal- or gas-fired plants are retired. Duke serves as one of the state’s primary utilities and owns and operates all of the utility-scale coal and nuclear power plants there. It also owns and operates a majority of the gas-fired power plants in the state.
When building a nuclear facility, the bill specifically calls for the nuclear facility to generate at least 1,000 megawatts. The 1,000 megawatt or 1 gigawatt requirement is to ensure the capability of baseload power from a clean energy resource, as stated in the bill.
“The [Utilities] Commission shall not authorize retirement of baseload facilities or facilities with dispatchable electric generation above 100 MW until such time as a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been issued to an electric public utility for construction of one nuclear facility,” according to the bill.
According to the bill, the push for nuclear energy is in alignment with the state’s authorized carbon reduction goal, the Clean Energy Plan. Under the strategy, the state requires the power sector to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In the bill, water use standards were placed for every data center in an effort to minimize water usage, such as the use of a closed-loop system. Localities would be allowed to require a site assessments to analyze the effects of the proposed data center
A large portion of North Carolina’s energy is nuclear power, providing 32% of the state’s net generation in 2025. It is the fifth-largest producer of nuclear power in the United States.
However, natural gas is the leading energy source in the state, making up 40% of the state’s total generation. While for coal, it only makes up 13% of the state’s total generation.
According to the Energy Information Administration, prior to 2012, coal-fired power plants produced more than 50% of North Carolina’s total electricity. Since 2012, 13 coal-fired power plants that produced nearly 4,000 megawatts were shut down and 10 natural gas-fired plants that generate around 4,400 megawatts were added.