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. 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. Localities would be allowed to require a site assessments to analyze the effects of the proposed data center