Renewable energy advocates critique Duke Energy after Christmas Eve rolling blackouts

During the 90-minute meeting, they said were warnings that a winter system, like Raleigh saw on Christmas, could cause serious problems for the power grid in our area.

Groups like the Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA) and others spoke at the news conference, saying they looked over data trying to pick apart what went wrong. They planned to address a number of missteps Duke Energy made during the blackouts, including how they say the company failed to communicate to customers the extent of its equipment failures.

Among the problems, they said, was that coal, oil and natural gas-generated electricity struggled during the storm.

At the same time, they claimed the data shows solar and wind energy performed well.

"During the outages, solar performed exceptionally well," said Simon Mahan from the SREA. "So if it had not been for solar power on Dec. 24, Duke Energy Carolina's system would have been an even more dire [situation]. So solar performed quite well right when it was needed."

Last month, Duke Energy apologized for the outages. saying temperatures plunged quickly, creating demand that outpaced projections and diminished generation capacity.

Duke Energy said they use a number of power sources, like carbon-free nuclear, hydro power, renewables, natural gas and coal. A Duke Energy Spokesman also pointed out December was the first time in their history they had to employ these emergency measures, and even that was for several hours.

Duke Energy apologizes to customers, says demand for electricity led to rolling Christmas Eve blackouts

Leaders said a combination of factors led Duke Energy to have to use rolling blackouts for the first time in the utility’s history, adding that the program meant to manage the blackouts did not work correctly.

According to Duke, rapidly plunging temperatures late on Dec. 23 and early on Dec. 24 caused a spike in demand for electricity, which outpaced projections and diminished generation capacity.

Duke Energy said it was forced to initiate the automated power outages as a result of the demand.

Was Duke Energy's forecasting accurate? Questions remain after Christmas Eve blackouts

Duke’s North Carolina President Kendal Bowman said the demand for power was about 10% higher than expected because the temperatures outside fell faster than anticipated. At the same time, she said, the company suddenly lost about half the generating power at three power plants because instrumentation froze up in the cold, despite weather proofing by the utility.

"Not only were the temperatures much lower than typical in our region, they dropped at a very fast rate," Bowman said. "It got much colder, much faster than what we normally see here in the Carolinas."

The groups meeting on Thursday said North Carolina is heavily reliant right now on coal, natural gas and nuclear power.

Advocates have been pushing for a number of years for more renewable energy as a way to provide more options for our electricity generation sources.