BOONE—Customers want electricity that’s affordable. Industrialists want a reliable, year-round power source. Environmentalists want electricity produced from clean, renewable resources.

James Rogers, CEO of Duke Energies, says all three are his priorities. Rogers spoke Oct. 12 at Appalachian State University during the Walker College of Business’ Harlan E. Boyles Distinguished CEO Lecture Series.

“Job one for me is providing affordable, reliable, clean electricity, 24-7, 365 days a year. It’s that simple,” he said. “But what is difficult is that I have to make tradeoffs with every decision about what type of power plant I build, what kind of investment I make. Our mission for the 21^st century is to build a company predicated on the principles of sustainability. That is central as we go forward and make choices about the types of energy generation that we build in the future,” he said.

With an average plant life of 40 years, Rogers said that by 2050, Duke Energy’s entire fleet of generating plants will be replaced. “In a sense, our company has a blank sheet of paper on which to build,” Rogers said.

Duke Energy is constructing an 825-megawatt coal burning plant in Rutherford County that will replace a thousand megawatts of aging plants that produce significant sulfur dioxide and other pollutants and will reduce the company’s environmental foot print, Rogers said. A planned 630-megawatt plant in Indiana designed to burn coal cleaner will also replace an aging plant.

Two natural gas burning plants are planned in North Carolina, and Duke proposes building a nuclear power plant in South Carolina. “Nuclear technology is the only technology that provides energy around the clock and with zero greenhouse gas emissions,” Rogers said.

The company has invested $1.5 billion in wind energy, including wind farms in Wyoming and eastern Colorado. Investments also have been made in solar power, such as installing solar panels on the roofs and grounds of office buildings, shopping malls and industrial plants at various sites in North Carolina. The company also will purchase power from a photovoltaic solar farm in Davidson County.

Even though alternative energy is part of Duke’s power mix, Rogers said wind and solar each has drawbacks. Both are expensive, neither produce around the clock reliability.

“In a world of uncertainty, you have to have a portfolio of options,” he said. “Simply put, every decision we make is based on sustainability.”

Rogers believes, however, that energy efficiency is key to the nation’s use of and attitudes about energy. A pilot project conducted by Duke Energy in a Charlotte neighborhood reduced electricity use by 20 percent. “Energy efficiency is where we can change the paradigm. It is something that will be transformative,” he said. “The best way we can increase the standard of living for future generations and to address future battles over scarce resources is to make our communities the most energy efficient possible.”

Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, is one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplying and delivering energy to approximately four million U.S. customers. The company has approximately 36,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America.

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