Duke Energy Boosts 5-Year Capital Plan to $65 Billion

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) has increased its five-year capital plan to $65 billion as part of its low-carbon energy transition, company executives said Thursday.

The capital plan, covering 2023 to 2027, is $2 billion more than the previous capital plan for 2022-2026.

Duke Energy expects its capital plan to increase as it continues its energy transition, Chief Financial Officer Brian Savoy said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

In October, Duke Energy said its planned investment of $145 billion over the next 10 years for critical energy infrastructure "is essential to meeting ... customer needs and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while also creating substantial economic benefits for the communities it serves."

It continued: "Eighty-five percent of the planned investment will fund the company's generation fleet transition and grid modernization. This includes approximately $75 billion to modernize and harden its transmission and distribution infrastructure; $40 billion for zero-carbon generation, such as solar, wind and battery-storage resources, and extending the life of its nuclear fleet; and approximately $5 billion in hydrogen-enabled natural gas technologies."

"Modernizing and hardening the transmission and distribution infrastructure will help empower customers, maintain service reliability, avoid service interruptions, and better prepare and protect against severe weather and potential cyber events," Duke Energy said in a press release last year. "These investments will also pave the way as the company reaches 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2035 and support the continued growth of technologies such as battery storage and electric vehicles."

Industrial Info is tracking more than $12 billion worth of active Duke Energy projects, including more than $4.5 billion in renewable power projects. Those listed under construction include:

• 250-megawatt (MW) Pisgah Ridge Solar Farm near Richland, Texas. Located on 2,000 acres, the project includes the installation of 650,000 solar photovoltaic modules. Construction began in mid-2021. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can click here for the project report.
• 235-MW Ledyard Windfarm in Ledyard, Iowa. The windfarm will utilize 46 4.5-ME V150 Vestas wind turbine generator sets. Completion is planned for this month. Subscribers can click here for more information.
• 120-MW Jackpot Solar Plant near Rogerson, Iowa. Utilizing 285,000 photovoltaic panels, completion is planned for the end of this month. Click here for more information.
• 74.9-MW Hildreth Solar Power Plant near Branford, Florida. The facility will utilize 220,000 single-axis bifacial solar panels. Completion is planned for mid-2023. Click here for more details.

Subscribers can click here for all project reports referenced in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a list of all Duke Energy projects tracked by Industrial Info.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).