Duke Energy News

Duke Energy’s leadership in sustainable business practices was recognized for a second year in a row through placement on the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World).

Announced today, the 2011 DJSI World recognizes the top 10 percent of the leading sustainability performers among the largest 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index.

In the electricity sector, 102 utilities from around the world were evaluated for consideration. Thirteen were selected.

Duke Energy was also named today to the DJSI for North American companies in the electric utility sector for the sixth consecutive year.

“Being named to the DJSI World list for a second year and the DJSI for North American companies for the sixth year is a tribute to our employees’ dedication to conducting business in a way that is good for people, the planet, and profits,” said James E. Rogers, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We have invested $7 billion in cleaner generation technologies over the past five years — allowing us to retire almost 3,500 megawatts of older, dirtier coal units by 2015 — and will invest an additional $5 billion over the next decade to ensure a more sustainable energy future.

“As we grow through our merger with Progress Energy,” Rogers continued, “we will remain focused on becoming the best utility in the U.S. by maintaining our strong emphasis on environmental, social and economic leadership.” Read more

Duke Energy's Chief Technology Officer David Mohler (left) signed an EcoPartnership agreement with Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx in the Treaty Room at the U.S. State Department May 10, 2011. ENN Group Vice Chairman Dr. Zhongxue Gan and China's Langfang Mayor Aimin Wang also sign the agreement (on right) as a state department official looks on.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presided over a signing ceremony in which Duke Energy and China-based ENN Group joined forces to form an EcoPartnership with the city of Charlotte, N.C., and the Chinese city of Langfang in Hebei Province.

The EcoPartnership program is administered by the U.S. Department of State and the People’s Republic of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). It focuses on and encourages a wide range of collaborative public-private activities designed to stimulate innovation and sustainable economic development.

This EcoPartnership agreement follows a Jan. 18, 2011, announcement of a Duke Energy and ENN collaboration on the development of green cities in China and the U.S.

The EcoPartnership will focus on cleaner energy generation, smart grid technologies,
energy storage and energy efficiency solutions. Read more

Duke Energy has released its 2010|2011 Sustainability Report.

“Delivering Today. Investing for Our Future.” describes what the company is doing to meet the current and coming needs of its customers and other stakeholders.

“I used to think that there were two kinds of companies – those that committed to sustainability and those that didn’t,” said Roberta Bowman, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer. “Today, I don’t believe companies have a real choice. We are seeing more and more interest in measures of sustainability performance by the financial community and other key stakeholders.”

The report provides an update on Duke Energy’s progress in achieving its sustainability goals. Highlights include:

• Steady growth in wind and solar energy
• Significant reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions
• Record results for employee safety
• Economic development, philanthropic and volunteer support for local communities
• Total shareholder return that surpasses peer utilities.

Read more.

36-Megawatt Battery Storage System Will Be World’s Largest at a Wind Farm

Duke Energy intends to store electricity generated at its Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas using an energy storage and power management system developed by Austin-based Xtreme Power.

In November 2009, Duke Energy announced plans to match a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to install large-scale batteries capable of storing electricity produced by the company’s 153-megawatt (MW) Notrees wind farm, located in Ector and Winkler counties. After due diligence, Duke Energy chose Xtreme Power (www.xtremepower.com) to design, install and operate a 36 MW-capacity Dynamic Power Resource™ system at the wind farm. When complete, the battery storage system will be one of the largest of its kind in the world. Read more

For the third consecutive year, Corporate Responsibility (CR) magazine named Duke Energy one of its 100 Best Corporate Citizens.

Duke Energy was named to the list after being independently assessed in seven key areas: environment, climate change, human rights, philanthropy, employee relations, financial and governance.

“Our inclusion on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list validates the ongoing contributions of our employees who, through hard work and creativity, are making Duke Energy a more sustainable company every day,” said Roberta Bowman, Duke Energy’s senior vice president and chief sustainability officer.

CR’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens List assesses companies on the Russell 1000®, a stock market index of the highest-ranking stocks in the Russell 3000® index. The magazine’s list is based solely on publicly available information. It is available, in full, atwww.thecro.com.

Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 4 million customers located in five states in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 11 million people. Its commercial power and international business segments own and operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including  a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.  To learn more and contribute to the discussion about the energy issues of today and the possibilities of tomorrow see www.sheddingalight.org.

Duke Energy today announced that Verizon Wireless will provide the telecommunications network that will connect the digital meters, signs and media players that will be used in Envision: Charlotte, a first-of-its-kind, public-private collaboration to make the commercial buildings in Charlotte’s urban core more energy efficient.

Using digital energy technologies connected by Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, Duke Energy will gather and aggregate energy usage data from about 70 participating buildings in Charlotte’s 1.94 square mile I-277 inner-belt loop. The information will then be streamed to large interactive lobby-level screens provided by Cisco.

Building tenants will see the nearly real-time commercial energy consumption data for the community and suggested actions they can take to reduce their personal energy usage in the office.

“We are pleased that Verizon Wireless has joined along with Cisco in making this very important initiative possible,” said Vincent Davis, Duke Energy’s director of smart energy community projects. “Having near real-time energy usage information — that’s not available today with analog technology — is the first step toward awareness and proactive human engagement to reduce the amount of energy that’s wasted in commercial buildings.” Read more

Duke Energy and China-based ENN Group announced an agreement today to collaborate on the development of technologies to help build greener cities in China and the United States.

The agreement creates the Future Energy Technology Demonstration Platform and paves the way to exchange knowledge on advanced energy, building and transportation technologies.

ENN is committed to the development and use of clean energy and is constructing China’s first smart energy “eco-city” in Langfang, China, close to Beijing.

Duke will collaborate with ENN to develop the eco city and will adapt what is learned from the eco city development as it deploys clean energy technologies. Read more

The following is a statement by Duke Energy chairman, president and CEO Jim Rogers in support of President Barack Obama’s executive order today for a government-wide review of federal regulations to avoid excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulations and promote economic growth.

“The President’s action today requires federal agencies to focus more in their regulations on economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and job creation.

“Rebuilding the U.S. economy is job one for the Administration and Congress so this focus is welcome. I am also pleased the President has instructed federal agencies to make sure new regulations are harmonized with existing programs.

“In the power sector, we need to go to work modernizing the U.S. energy infrastructure, but cannot move forward if we face excessive, inconsistent and redundant new federal regulations. If we can get a coherent roadmap from the Administration, we will immediately begin to replace old plants, update our grid, develop clean energy technologies and, most importantly, create thousands of new jobs.”

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The Edwardsport project will be the largest in the world to use advanced technology to gasify coal, strip out many of the pollutants, and then burn that cleaner gas to produce power. Consequently, it will be one of the cleanest coal-fired plants in the world.

The plant can use local, Indiana coal with significantly less environmental impact. It will replace 60-plus-year-old power generating units with state-of-the-art efficiency. The project, factoring in aspects such as engineering, construction, and procurement, is about 80 percent complete. Actual construction is about 60 percent done.

How IGCC Works

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View an animated version of the image above with clickable descriptions

Watch this video on YouTube

More Resources:

Download The Edwardsport Project overview (PDF)

Download the IGCC fact sheet (PDF)

IGCC Questions and Answers (PDF)

Rendering of the IGCC power plant currently under construction at Duke Energy’s Edwardsport Station in Knox County, Indiana.

Click the image to download it in a variety of sizes from Flickr

Location: Edwardsport, Ind., about 20 miles northeast from Vincennes

Size: 618 megawatts—enough energy to power more than 494,000 average-sized homes. It will be the world’s largest electric power plant to use advanced coal gasification technology.

Economic Impact: One of the largest construction projects in Indiana

>Currently about 3,000 construction and other professionals are on site.

>110-120 permanent full-time jobs once the plant begins operations in 2012

>More than $710 million in contracts so far awarded to Indiana businesses as part of the work.

>1.7 to 1.9 million tons of coal used annually, supporting an estimated 170 mining jobs

>Estimated $37 million in annual property taxes in years 1-10; after the first 10 years of operation annual property taxes of approximately $5 million

Environmental Benefits:

Air – Will produce 10 times as much power as the existing plant at Edwardsport, yet with significantly less environmental impact than the much smaller plant it replaces.

Water - Will use dramatically less water. The IGCC plant will use 30 percent less water than a conventional coal-fired plant. It will be a limited discharge facility and will process its own wastewater.

Land – Will generate marketable byproducts. The plant produces sulfur and slag for agricultural and construction materials.

Download the Envision: Charlotte logo from Flickr

Sept. 23, 2010

NEW YORK – Duke Energy, Cisco and Charlotte Center City Partners announced today the creation of Envision: Charlotte, a first-of-its-kind public-private collaboration to make commercial buildings in Charlotte’s urban core more energy efficient.

The initiative was announced this morning by former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. President Clinton was joined by Duke Energy Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers, Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers, Charlotte Center City Partners CEO Michael Smith and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.

Watch the press conference online, recorded via Livestream

Grab the embed code from YouTube

A primary focus of Envision: Charlotte is to reduce energy that is wasted in commercial buildings within Charlotte’s 1.94 square-mile I-277 inner-belt loop by using innovative technologies to encourage energy efficiency and changes in consumer behavior. The initiative will seek to partner with the owners of approximately 60 commercial buildings who control more than 15 million square feet within the inner-loop.

View and download an Envision: Charlotte low-res PDF

View and download an Envision: Charlotte print-ready high-res PDF

To date, business and local government leaders controlling more than 12 million square feet of space are considering participating in Envision: Charlotte.

The initiative will deploy a combination of digital smart grid and building automation technologies, as well as unique energy tracking tools, to provide building owners and office workers with near real-time information about the buildings’ collective energy use. It will also suggest specific actions office workers can take to reduce energy consumption.

The goal of the initiative is to reduce energy use by up to 20 percent and avoid approximately 220,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases by 2016.

View and download the complete Envision: Charlotte news release

Grab the embed code from YouTube

Center City photos on Flickr

Media contact
Paige Layne
704-382-4893
paige.layne@duke-energy.com
24 Hour Media Line: 800-559-3853