Duke Energy Indiana recently held the final stakeholder meeting for its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). An IRP is a 20-year plan the State of Indiana requires electric utilities to update every three years, but it’s not subject to state approval. At this meeting, Duke discussed its preferred portfolio, which is how it proposes to generate electricity over the next 20 years.
The big takeaway is that Duke is delaying its exit from coal from 2035 to 2038 at its Gibson plant in southwest Indiana. This is a huge departure from Duke's 2021 IRP, where the utility proposed shutting down unit 5 at the Gibson coal-fired plant by 2025 and Gibson units 3 and 4 by 2029. While every other major Indiana utility will exit coal by the end of the decade, Duke is offsetting that progress by extending its coal plant operations far longer than what's needed to limit the impacts of our already changing climate. It also means extending the harmful pollution that fouls the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil our farmers cultivate.
Delaying coal retirements doesn’t line up with the realities of this moment. Coal plants are expensive to operate and maintain, and Duke ratepayers are financially burdened. Residential customers increasingly want clean electricity. So do corporate customers, many of whom have their own climate goals to meet. And the disastrous, far-reaching impacts of climate change continue to shock and overwhelm communities across the country. The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Helene is just the type of extreme weather event that climate change can produce. So was the startling increase in the power of Hurricane Milton earlier this week.
Sierra Club recently released its 2024 Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges report, which evaluates utility clean energy transition plans. Duke Energy Indiana earned an “F” this year, down from a “D” last year, while three Indiana utilities received a “B” and one received an “A.” Duke's peer utilities are making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. It can be done in our state. It's happening right now. There are no technical, regulatory, or legal reasons for Duke to move so slowly; the utility just prefers to run its polluting coal plants.
Tell Duke to cancel their plans to delay coal retirements and to start the transition to renewable energy now at sc.org/dukeindiana
Read more about Duke Energy’s Plans in the media:
Indiana utilities earn collective ‘C’ grade on clean energy goals (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Duke Energy plans to delay Gibson coal plant retirement. Activists say it's a 'step backward' (WFYI)
Joab Schultheis
Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Executive Committee Chair
Energy Committee Chair