Second NC wind farm could start construction this summer; plus ... - WFAE

Second NC wind farm could start construction this summer; plus, changing climate brings on sneezes | WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source

Second NC wind farm could start construction this summer; plus, changing climate brings on sneezes

This story appeared first in WFAE reporter David Boraks' weekly newsletter. Subscribe today to get Climate News straight to your email inbox each week.

State environmental regulators have approved a 45-turbine wind farm in eastern North Carolina that will be the state's second. The Department of Environmental Quality announced Tuesday that it issued a permit for the Timbermill Wind project, which is planned on about 6,300 acres in Chowan County, near Edenton.

The project's developer, Apex Clean Energy, says the turbines will be one-quarter to one-half mile apart on managed timberland and farmland. Their capacity to generate 189 megawatts of electricity will be enough to power 47,000 homes, according to Apex.

An Apex spokesman said the project will cost $218 million. Construction could begin as soon as this summer and continue through 2024.

"Timbermill Wind represents an enormous economic opportunity for Chowan County and the entire region," the company said in a statement to WFAE. "The project will create over 100 jobs during construction, and become the county's single largest taxpayer - providing about $33 million in new local tax revenue over its lifetime."

The project still needs a county building permit and approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. A spokesman said Apex will deliver the electricity onto the multistate PJM grid, which serves northeastern North Carolina, Virginia and other states in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest. It has not announced any specific power sales agreements yet.

North Carolina currently has only one operating wind farm, a 104-turbine project built near Elizabeth City in 2017 to power Amazon data centers.

Meanwhile, as many as three wind farms off the coast are in the early planning stages. The federal government has signed leases with developers for one site off Kitty Hawk and two sites south of Bald Head Island.

Sneezing before spring officially arrives

The warming climate has plants blooming earlier — and for those of us with seasonal allergies, that's making the sneezing and sniffling season longer. Nationwide, the growing season averages about 15 days longer now than in 1970, according to the climate reporting and research group Climate Central. That means plants are leafing out and blooming earlier and pollen, mold and other allergens are hitting us sooner than before.

Climate Central has compiled data for more than 200 cities. Charlotte's growing season has expanded by an average of nine days, which is below the national average. But that's small consolation to those of us with runny noses and puffy eyes. See Climate Central's full report.

SC eyes electricity market changes that could save customers millions

A report on possible changes in the structure of South Carolina's electricity market is getting attention here, north of the border, because any changes there could have a big impact.

Members of a South Carolina General Assembly study committee got a more than two-hour briefing Tuesday on the draft report by Boston-based consulting firm The Brattle Group. It estimates that South Carolina electric customers could save anywhere from a few million dollars to a few hundred million dollars a year if the state were to overhaul the way electricity is delivered, by introducing competition and efficiencies.

The report also says reforms also could speed adoption of renewable energy, which would help fight climate change.

The consultants offered four options, from a less formal power-sharing agreement to a major reform of energy production and distribution. Those options are:

- Having all utilities in South Carolina join Duke Energy's "Joint Dispatch Agreement," or JDA, a sort of regional power-sharing agreement. Duke's South Carolina utility is already part of the agreement.
- Forming a Southeast regional "energy imbalance market," or EIM, that manages electricity production and delivery in real time using the lowest-cost source of energy.
- Forming a new Southeast regional transmission organization, or RTO. The organization would coordinate, control and monitor an electric grid over multiple states. This could improve reliability and increase the availability of cheaper, cleaner energy, such as solar and wind, the report says. RTOs don't sell to individual customers; they buy and transmit power from electricity generators and sell it to companies that serve customers.
Having South Carolina join the existing PJM regional transmission organization, which stretches from northeastern North Carolina to Michigan. This would provide all the benefits of an RTO, and could happen more quickly than starting a new RTO from scratch, the report says.

The two RTO options would save the most money, according to the Brattle Group. A new Southeast RTO would have an annual benefit of up to $183 million, while joining PJM could save up to $362 million.

Brattle's report says joining PJM would be the best option, and could happen in as little as 18 months. Working with other states and utilities to form a new regional transmission organization would require coordination between many groups and could take years, the report says.

South Carolina state Sen. Tom Davis told John Downey at The Charlotte Business Journal last week that a decision by South Carolina to make changes would have a big impact on North Carolina.

The report itself suggests that joining PJM would work best if Duke Energy's North Carolina operations were included. The Charlotte-based utility doesn't currently belong to PJM or any other RTO. "It is theoretically (but likely not practically possible) that Duke’s South Carolina territories could join PJM without the North Carolina portion, as this would require that each Duke utility to reconfigure their internally-pooled operations that currently span the two states, which would introduce operational inefficiencies and also require extensive new metering equipment."

Duke Energy declined to comment on the report.

South Carolina lawmakers began talking about electricity market changes after two utilities in 2017 abandoned plans to expand the V.C. Summer nuclear plant, north of Columbia. The project was years behind schedule and way over budget. The debacle eventually led S.C. Electric & Gas to be sold to Virginia-based Dominion Energy.