Cooper joins group highlighting clean energy access, improvement to power grid

All right

Well good afternoon everyone

My name is Kendall Bowman

I am the Duke Energy North Carolina State president and

it is an honor for my teammates and I to

have you here today at the Duke Energy Control Center

in Garner North Carolina here at the control center

We have teammates that are here 24 hours seven days

a week keeping the power flowing for all of the

people and businesses in this great state

But before we get started I want to say that

we were thinking about the folks down in Florida as

the tropical storm Debbie has just come through and there's

some significant impact there as Debbie moves towards the Carolinas

we're getting prepared and I wanna thank all of the

crews with Duke Energy for their response and their preparedness

efforts because they'll be out there trying to get the

lights back on for all the citizens in North Carolina

Now more than ever it is important for us to

be focused on reliability affordability and increasingly clean energy to

meet the needs of all of our customers

As we look towards the future energy man energy demand

is going to continue to accelerate and it's gonna be

both a challenge and an opportunity but strategic partnerships like

the one that we're here to talk about today is

gonna be part of that solution

And with that it is my honor to introduce the

United States Secretary of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

Thank you so much madam president

I like the sound of that

Ok

Uh Thank you for the welcome and thank you for

hosting us here

Um You know I'm so pleased to be here with

Governor Cooper who's been just such a great champion of

all things uh clean energy your legacy that you are

building and will end on with a great foot stump

is going to be amazing

So thank you for your leadership John Podesta who is

got the president's ear and it was instrumental along with

Congresswoman Ross uh for the bills that make this invest

in America agenda that the president has possible which is

why we're here because one of the components of that

of course is making sure that we have a grid

that is a 21st century grid and we are here

because uh first of all Duke has partnered with uh

the State Department of Environmental Quality

Um First name Elizabeth Beer is here

Thank you so much for your leadership in making this

happen

We appreciate uh the state's role

Did you know that the grid overall in the United

States It is uh 500,000

Um Kom 500,000

Um Wait I just wanna make 500,000 miles of transmission

system and 5 million miles of distribution system

So that is the largest machine on earth

The grid is and yet much of our grid was

built in the 19 fifties the 19 sixties and hasn't

hasn't been upgraded

And we need to think about investment in the grid

in the same way

We think about investment in infrastructure like roads and bridges

because this is infrastructure for America

And so you know the grid aging we're here

Thank you for remembering the folks in Florida and all

of those up the coast

You know you think about Debbie but you also think

about Matthew and Florence and Dorian and Isaiah

And those will not be the end of the names

that we will continue to hear and these extreme weather

events continuing to accelerate and becoming bigger and bigger

So uh we're here to announce today that through the

bipartisan infrastructure law the president is investing the largest amount

ever in our grid

It's $10.5 billion and the component today we are announcing

nationwide but North Carolina is getting its share is 2.5

billion North Carolina will be getting $57 million

I just wanna make sure I got that right

Today's announcement is $2.2 billion.57 million for a North Carolina

project that focuses on enhancing transmission

Uh particularly uh I wanna make sure the Lee Milburne

transmission line

Got it right

Um Which in involves shoring it up but also recond

it meaning that we want to be able to use

advanced uh technologies advanced grid technologies to put more power

on existing lines so that you don't have to worry

about permitting

You won't have to worry about nimby problems

Use the existing infrastructure to push more power across that

allows for more renewables to be added to the system

It set it sets the way for the great goals

I know that the governor has about offshore wind and

we're excited about that path

So today's announcement for North Carolina as an example for

the rest of the country um We the rest of

the country uh several projects

It's going to be uh eight projects across 18 states

2.2 billion doing similar types of investments to put more

power on the grid using rec conductor

I have to acknowledge Maria Robinson who's in the back

there who is head of our grid deployment office and

who has been doing all of this work on grid

planning and grid technologies and making sure that we are

deploying all this fun these funds

But this particular set this 2.2 billion will essentially add

13 make available 13 gigawatts of additional power capacity on

the grid

That's about 6.5 Hoover dams from today's announcement and it

will create nationwide 5000 jobs which are good paying jobs

largely in partnerships with utilities

Uh We're very excited about that

Uh Here uh in North Carolina it will mean more

sec security for about 14,000 customers

And we're particularly interested

I know Duke is particularly interested in the vulnerable folks

who may have conditions that depend upon electricity for their

for for medical uh for their medical conditions

So if you've got somebody who needs a machine to

breathe you can't uh go eight hours with a blackout

You you can't go days certainly you can't go hours

often

So the vulnerable are uh demanding and they should be

uh reliant reliable resilient grid

And that's what this will do

This creates 550 good paying jobs here as well

So all I could say is no more sitting on

our hands and talking about Infrastructure Week

We are doing it in the Biden Harris administration

This is an ex example of the president's commitment to

invest in America whether it's grid or airports or port

energy infrastructure is critical

And from Raleigh to Reno from North Carolina to northern

California America is doing big things again and we are

so grateful for partners in making this happen like Governor

Cooper and like North Carolina

So gov I'm gonna turn it over to you

Well thank you Secretary Granholm

We're always glad to see you just because we like

you but you also usually bring good news with you

So thank you

Thank you

For that

And your leadership of the Department of Energy and your

leadership as Governor of Michigan Attorney General of Michigan and

all the great things that you've done over your career

Public service

John Podesta always glad to see you

Grateful for your leadership on clean energy innovation and implementation

and uh making sure all of this money is coordinate

Grateful to have you with us

Congresswoman Watt Ross

Thank you for your continuing efforts in Congress

I know it gets frustrating sometimes but you guys are

doing good things and glad to see you

Glad to see all our local government officials with us

today

My team secretary of Department of uh ee Environmental Quality

Elizabeth Biser is here

My clean energy director Peter LeFort is here Jennifer Munt

from the Department of Commerce who's helping us work with

offshore wind and other clean energy efforts

Thank you for being here today for this important announcement

you know with our growing economy and we have been

growing third fastest growing state in the country jobs coming

here very quickly uh the demand for energy increases

And when you look at what North Carolina has done

C NBC has ranked us in the top three states

for business

Five years in a row

We would have been number 13 years in a row

but they flipped infrastructure and workforce on us made us

lose by three points

They just didn't want somebody to win it three times

in a row

I know that but second place sometimes is ok

Uh We we've also become a clean energy epicenter in

North Carolina

We're a leader in electric vehicles supply chain investments

Uh And we are ready to reap the economic benefits

of offshore wind including the the energy

But with all of that success comes the infrastructure challenges

that we know that we have to face

Uh we need to produce power at lower cost

It needs to be cleaner it needs to meet our

requirements of our household 951 which requires us to get

to carbon zero

And we have to make sure that we meet the

needs of businesses that don't want to leave a carbon

footprint

And so many of them are coming to North Carolina

and they want to make sure that the energy is

is clean

So today's investment will help us to modernize the grid

infrastructure and meet the challenges that our success has brought

us

Um What it will do number one is it will

help us lower our electricity bills for consumers

Uh But they have to pay for necessary upgrades on

the grid

And this can I think uh there this takes care

of about half of this

Uh Kendall

I I'm right about that

They would have had to pay for that and it

allows us to connect to cheaper renewable energy

It'll make our power grid more resilient to storms and

other events

Uh We are also thinking about the people in Florida

and Georgia and South Carolina

Right now the storm is moving our way

People were busy in the control center there

They're getting ready for the rain that we know that

we're gonna get

But this funding will help make outages less frequent

When you do have outages it will help make those

outages a shorter period of time

Uh And it will allow for more seamless hookup to

solar and storage which we know is important and help

facilitate offshore wind

There's also some funding here which we cannot overlook

It helps us develop our workforce in the clean energy

arena investments and internships and apprenticeships

We've made workforce the priority in North Carolina because we

know the businesses when you talk to them what's your

most important issues Workforce workforce and maybe workforce are the

things that they think about when they're particularly moving to

a new place

And it this this these funds will help us create

about 550 jobs

Here

We wanna make sure people are getting the training but

here's my broken record

Our public schools are strong

I've declared this the year of public schools in North

Carolina

Uh Funding is at risk particularly with private school vouchers

We must invest in education from cradle to career if

we're going to continue to be one of the leading

states for businesses because workforce is so important and all

of the business leaders who are here

We need you to continue telling that story to the

General Assembly that investment in public education quality childcare pre

KK through 12 community colleges and universities

That's where it's at and those investments are are critical

to our future

But thank you for this funding and we're we're gonna

use it in the right way

And now I'm gonna in introduce to to all of

you the senior adviser to President Biden for clean energy

innovation and implementation at the White House

John Podesta John

OK

I think senior in my case means just old

Uh But I appreciate it

And thank you Governor for your uh clean energy leadership

in North Carolina

From building a absolute powerhouse in manufacturing uh from electrifying

transportation to deepening community input uh to advance uh environmental

justice

Uh You've done it all and thanks to you and

your team uh uh Elizabeth Beiser is here

Thank you

Uh I wanna recognize uh Kendall Bo uh Bowman for

from Duke Energy uh the North Carolina president uh who's

been a great partner in this in in this project

And of course congresswoman Deborah Ross who's been a champion

uh for clean energy

Finally a big thanks to Secretary Granholm

I was with the secretary uh in Wisconsin last Friday

for the launch of their state rebate program to reduce

costs for uh particularly for moderate low-income people

But that was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act

So I would say from rebates to rec conductor from

hydrogen uh to Fusion Secretary Granholm is the best climate

and clean energy leader our country has ever seen

So thank you thank you for your work and thank

you for the entire doe team

You know when President Biden and Vice and the vice

and vice President Harris took office they set out a

vision to tackle the climate crisis and reach 100% clean

electricity by 2035

But in order to get there we needed to invest

and we and especially in transmission we need to double

our current transmission capacity and we need to do it

fast quite frankly because the climate crisis has already alive

Arrived two weeks ago last Sunday uh was the hottest

day ever recorded by humans in history

I think a billion years ago is maybe hotter

But uh since rec uh recorded uh recording happened it

was the hottest day ever

That record lasted for one day because the next day

it was hotter still

And the consequences of that wi warming like the wildfires

we're seeing in the West heat waves and the hurricanes

like Debbie uh which is already has been noted uh

caused extensive damage in Florida and Georgia

And now uh as a slow moving storm we expect

the extreme rainfall that will hit uh North Carolina in

in in the days ahead

But those extreme weather strain our grid infrastructure that extreme

weather straits our grid infrastructure and it's happening at the

precise moment

We need that infrastructure to be bigger to be stronger

and more reliable

We're adding a lot of uh load uh Right now

because of uh electrifying uh a lot of different things

ho homes transportation data centers uh Artificial Intelligence

So we need uh that grid to be bigger stronger

and more reliable

But historically the permitting process for clean energy infrastructure including

transmission has been plagued by delays by bottlenecks at every

level federal state and local

The truth is we can't build clean energy projects through

If we can't build uh clean energy projects through a

few black backyards then nobody's gonna have a backyard

So we got to get on with this work in

uh May of 2023 we laid out priorities for permitting

reform and as administra as an administration Congress made some

advancements

Uh And uh they're now being implemented through the bipartisan

permitting reform implementation rule which was passed by our Council

of Environmental Quality and finalized earlier this year

We're seeing some new efforts uh and additional permitting reform

in Congress

And at the same time we're as an administration are

using every tool at our disposal uh in the executive

branch to speed up that process to get these projects

built

The Inflation reduction Act dedicates nearly a billion dollars to

boost permanent capaci capacity for federal agencies

Department of Energy has received some of that money

We've already increased the workforce by 14%

Uh Ferc has voted on rules to make transmission development

more efficient

Uh and uh streamline the interconnection process uh for transmission

providers so that we can get more clean energy built

uh and put onto the grid

And we're making the big investment in grid infrastructure in

American history

$30 billion total the $10 billion that the secretary mentioned

$30 billion in total

Today's announcement is part of that historic investment and it's

supporting not only the build out of new transmission uh

from New York to Montana but right here uh in

North Carolina to make the grid more durable more reliable

more resilient through projects uh in six states uh including

uh right here uh in in uh in this area

uh that those projects will make uh uh the um

our clean energy future closer to the vision that President

Biden and Vice President Harris uh laid out and uh

what does it all add up to Well we're super

excited about the innovative North Carolina transmission rebuild project

It's gonna reduce electricity interruptions in the face of extreme

weather

It'll help bring 1600 megawatts of solar and 260 megawatts

of storage online

It'll cost 30 percent less than constructing completely new transmission

It'll bring benefits to communities and create as the governor

noted 550 jobs that will be filled through partnerships with

North Carolina A and T and Nash Community College

So it improves reliability

It saves money it helps build clean uh power it

reduces pollution and it creates good good paying jobs

As my mother used to say when I was a

kid what's not to like Thank you to doe for

all that

You uh of your hard work on this announcement

And now it's my prev uh privilege and pleasure to

introduce a champion uh for clean energy and for the

growth that comes from uh those investments in clean energy

Uh Congresswoman Deborah Ross and take it away

Well thank you so much for your leadership

For those of you who don't know John Podesta

He has had a long career in government but I

think that this is where he's gonna make his biggest

long term impact and we're so honored to have him

join today and of course a huge thank you to

Secretary Granholm for joining us here in North Carolina particularly

given that you might not leave North Carolina tonight

Um I was sorry to miss you when you were

here in April due to votes but I'm thrilled to

be with you today as um some of you know

including Peter Ledford

Um I have a long history working on clean energy

and energy issues including with Duke Energy not always when

we're on the same side

Um But I was part of the legislature when we

passed the renewable portfolio standards that really got North Carolina

started in this and that had about a decade career

working for people who were bringing clean energy to this

state all different kinds and trying to interconnect and that's

what's so important

So when I joined Congress um after the 2020 election

one of my very first acts as a new member

of Congress was to call on congressional leadership to include

provisions to facilitate and expedite transmission planning and dep and

deployment of new infrastructure

And that's exactly what we are doing today

I'm pleased to say that working with my colleagues from

both parties on this issue we were ultimately successful

The landmark bipartisan infrastructure law includes a program to help

connect clean energy projects to the grid and improve our

power sector's resilience against the threats of climate change and

extreme weather events things we know all too well and

we are experiencing this week today's announcement of $57 million

we'll say it again $57 million for yay for N

CD Q and the State Energy Office will help us

to accomplish these important clean energy goals while while also

creating hundreds of jobs right here in North Carolina

In partnership with Duke Energy this project will reconstruct the

Lee Milburne transmission line with advanced technology and components and

as we've heard with minimal impact to local communities during

that construction the benefits of this project cannot be understated

It will bring 1600 megawatts of solar energy and 260

megawatts of energy storage online helping to power hundreds of

homes and businesses in time

As you've heard this investment could also help to connect

critical new wind energy projects to our state

And just last week I was in Rhode Island seeing

the very first offshore wind project in operation North Carolina's

O North Carolinians overwhelmingly want this kind of clean reliable

and affordable electricity

And on top of the energy and environmental benefits as

you've heard it will create 550 jobs right here in

North Carolina

These new positions can be filled through partnerships with NC

State our local H BC US Shaw and Saint Augustine's

as well as local community colleges like Wake Tech our

students and graduates here in North Carolina and especially Wake

County stand ready to help build the clean reliable energy

infrastructure of the future

I also want to thank Governor Cooper for your amazing

leadership in this area and your ability to forge bipartisan

consensus

Finally thank you again to Secretary Granholm and the Biden

Harris administration for your leadership in moving America forward to

help

Have us have a thriving clean energy economy and reduce

climate change

Thank you so much

We're gonna open it up to a few questions from

press if I could have all of the speakers join

us uh around the podium that would be great

We're gonna start off with uh Laura uh first question

to you

Sure

And this question oh thank you

This question actually is for Governor I sorry Secretary Grant

Hall but also Governor Cooper um in South the Southeast

the Sun Belt in general is just known for its

frequent power outages

What is the Harris Biden Harris administration doing to help

bring the South in with the rest of the country

when it comes to modernizing our power grid

And that's exactly what today's announcement is about because this

is about resilience

We want to make sure that states have the opportunity

to not just use these grid enhancing technologies like rec

conducting but also to choose to underground for example which

is more expensive

And so having a federal partnership to be able to

to make that resiliency play is very important

It's what the Biden Harris administration was thinking about when

it made these um you know the this is the

grid resilience innovation program that we're announcing today

But overall the grid investments as John says is $30

billion

And so we want to see that resilience in all

pockets of America but particularly those that are mostly impacted

by extreme weather events

We'll take the next question

Can you say your name Uh Councilor Brown on W

BT F radio as well

Um My question is the secretary and was Podesta you

mentioned artificial onto in your the Mars and uh just

last week where Darda mentioned on the show that um

that cap and t could actually do them on three

So what what do you think about this A I

Well look I I think uh there's no question that

the use of data centers and A I in particular

uh is putting pressure to put more uh we need

to uh increase the amount of electricity we're producing in

this country that will put some pressure on the grid

It also has the potential uh to uh particularly uh

artificial intelligence to make the grid more efficient and to

make usage of energy more efficient

I think some of the like Fareed may be overstating

what the pressure is

But there's no question that we got a plan for

that

We need to build clean power or to uh to

a adjust to that uh for 20 years or so

as uh the secretary would would uh testify the uh

we've had basically flat load in this country

We haven't seen a lot of increase because even though

we've been using more power the efficiency gains uh have

uh meant that we haven't I need to increase uh

the generation capacity that's completely changed

So we're seeing a spike uh in generation comes from

electrifying transportation

A I si I noted data centers uh electrifying homes

Uh But we need to build that out with clean

power and then we need a grid that's smart effective

uh resilient and strong to be able to do that

Yeah

Right now data centers occupy about 4% of our grid

uh in terms of the the amount of generation they

use by 2030 it's gonna be double that or maybe

a little bit more

Um So we need to add generation as uh as

John says the fact that you're focused here on offshore

wind we need to add that generation more solar we

need to add that generation

Um We need to add nuclear we need to add

um geothermal we need to add hydroelectric power

You've got a lot of hydroelectric power here

So we need to do all of that

In addition to these grid enhancing technologies which by the

way could a could essentially add 100 gigawatts to our

nation's grid

If we did things like rec conductor like we're talking

about today or other um you know dynamic line rating

other technologies that will make the grid more efficient in

addition to actual A I being more efficient

So all of these together we've got to continue to

work

This is there's no time to you know be complacent

Adding generation is critical

We have to double essentially the size of our grid

transmission wise as well as clean energy wise

If we need to get to the president's goal of

clean 100% clean grid by 2035 which is why all

hands are on deck

OK

Uh Michael Perch ABC 11

Long term

What's the realistic timeline for some of these grid upgrade

stabilization measures Uh Short term what's being done to ensure

there is stability for Debbie and the storms this cycle

Sure I'll I'll start

So it takes several years to actually reconduct or the

the lines

Um So we do have near term as you're thinking

through storm tropical storm Debbie that is coming

We are always focused on preparedness at Duke Energy

We are deploying I think now we're at 6900 crews

that we're staging across the areas of the state where

we think are gonna be the most impacted

So we're trying to get prepared so we can be

as quick as possible to make restorations

Um We're also employing new smart grid technologies on our

system

We're in the middle of that process

Now we've been investing over 500 million the past several

years to improve the efficiency and to reduce the outage

time and also to be more resilient to rec circuit

the line so that people don't have to lose power

Question

Yeah

Thank you Congresswoman Ross

Um I wanted to ask I know you mentioned earlier

H BC us and Tha Wyatt on behalf of Black

owners of solar services running ad oe community program

I wanted to just understand a little bit more from

your perspective how can we connect H BC us to

underserved business owners who are receiving clean energy funding

We actually have one who received 15 million yesterday and

so we are excited on how we could get feedback

on connecting students to clean energy opportunities Well that thank

you for that question

Number 11 thing I didn't mention is that um Congresswoman

Fuxi and Congressman Jeff Jackson and I serve on the

Science Space and Technology Committee

One of the most important things that we deal with

on that committee is connecting our H BC us our

land grant institutions and our community colleges to the technology

of the future

So there are apprenticeships their apprenticeships through doe But we're

also using our soft power in the private sector bringing

people together

So every single time somebody comes to visit me and

talks to me about what they want to do in

North Carolina

Let me tell you I I let them know that

NC A and T university graduates more Black engineers than

any institution in the entire country

Now I also mention other institutions

So it a lot of it is having people who

are here people people like John Podesta who talk to

people all over the country point out the talent that

we have

But in science space and technology we have set up

apprenticeship programs funding programs

I actually even have a cybersecurity doe bill that has

passed the house that would connect with a cybersecurity program

that we have at Shaw University

And so we are very intentionally working on that

And you've got three Congress people from North Carolina at

the front of the line

Thank you guys so much