By Mike Fitts
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South Carolina needs to require that energy companies generate a set portion of their power from clean sources, a top Duke Energy executive said Tuesday.

Keith Trent, the chief strategy, policy and regulatory officer for the North Carolina-based utility, said that only a mandate from the state, as North Carolina and 27 other states have passed, would really get things moving on wind, solar and other types of clean power. He spoke at the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s “Green is Good for Business” event.

North Carolina’s renewable portfolio standard requires utilities to increase the amount of “clean” energy they supply to consumers, with a target of 12.5% of all energy supplied by 2021. The mandate, Trent said, can be adjusted if the costs passed along to consumers become excessive.

Trent says such a mandate is necessary because even such utilities as Duke Energy that want to use more green power cannot justify the added costs to state regulators, who oversee electricity rates, without it. Boards such as the S.C. Public Service Commission won’t approve the costs of the project, which ratepayers would be asked to bear, unless there is a mandate.

Trent also touted the utility’s Save-A-Watt program, designed to change the paradigm of the energy business. The program’s goal is to give the utility fiscal incentives to help reduce energy usage by its customers. In effect, the utility would make gain revenue if an audit finds new efficiencies among its customers. The utility would help with the costs of implementing efficiency measures up front for customers who choose the program, with the goal of being rewarded when efficiencies are realized.

Duke Energy has proposed the Save-A-Watt program to regulators in four states, including South Carolina. It hopes to have the program approved by the PSC here soon, Trent said.

“Our aspiration is that our customers, both residential and business customers, are the most efficient users of energy in the world,” Trent said.

Trent told the crowd that nuclear power must be a part of the energy future, because it can supply the 24/7 need for the system without greenhouse gas emissions in a way that solar or other clean sources cannot. Duke has proposed building two new reactors near Gaffney.

“We are very serious about nuclear, and it has to be part of the future,” Trent said.