The NC solar power projects of the future are now on pause. How to have a say.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Brawley ordered Duke to halt solar procurement for the rest of this year.
- Groups say the halt could keep early-2030s solar projects from being completed in time.
- Environmental groups filed challenges and the commission opened comments.
An order from the top state utilities official could stall and potentially end solar projects expected to come online in the early 2030s — a move environmental organizations are saying is unprecedented and could raise future energy rates for consumers.
In North Carolina, Duke Energy is required to use solar power for part of its electrical needs. So, it purchases the power from companies through a procurement process in which companies submit bids. North Carolina Utilities Commission Chairman William Brawley in April ordered Duke to halt that process for the rest of this year.
The Utilities Commission had previously directed Duke to procure a specific amount of solar energy, which it does through plans that are issued every two years and intended to reduce carbon emissions in the most cost-effective way and take estimated future energy needs into account. A bill that passed in 2021 mandated the plans on the two-year timeline.
Following Brawley’s order to stop that purchasing, environmental organizations said solar projects estimated to come online in the early 2030s won’t be done in time to add to an already strained electrical grid, potentially raising energy costs for North Carolinians.
The Southern Environmental Law Center this month filed a motion on behalf of other environmental groups for the commission to reconsider the order. On Friday, the commission ordered a weeklong comment period to hear opinions on the docket.
Docket E-2 Sub 1406 contains Brawley’s order to defer procurement, as well as a few petitions from environmental groups.
In the order, Brawley wrote that Duke’s regional subsidiaries said “critical changes to the industry have occurred” over the past three years, including cuts to federal solar tax credits and “increased cost of solar.”
Based on that and other procedural reasons, the order said, “the Chairman finds good cause to direct Duke to defer taking any further action on the 2026 Solar” requests for proposal.
North Carolina Utilities Commissioner Floyd McKissick said that because the case was pending, and the docket is open, he would not comment on the order.
Bill Norton, a Duke spokesperson, said the company was “still evaluating” how the order may impact “long-term planning for the 2030s.”
He said solar energy and battery storage “remain a key part of our diverse energy mix.”
“Solar already approved for development and construction between now and 2030 in North Carolina is not affected by this ruling, so it has no impact on how we meet our customers’ energy needs in the near-term,” he said.
Potential impacts of pausing solar projects
Mikaela Curry, a North Carolina-based campaign manager for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, told The News & Observer that because the NC Utilities Commission already issued the purchasing mandate to Duke Energy, “it’s very confusing and out-of-process to then effectively cancel that solar from being procured.”
“If they don’t reconsider this decision, and there’s no (request for proposals), then there’s no process in which those solar projects that were ordered ... get built out onto the grid,” she said. “ ... It’s really concerning that this could potentially be the first step of a trajectory on a really expensive pathway.”
Nick Jimenez, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the organization believes Brawley’s order is unlawful because it was issued solely by Brawley as chairman, rather than the full commission, which usually only happens for procedural orders like scheduling.
“Even if the commission as a whole is going to issue an order on something important and substantive like that, they’re supposed to have a factual record underlying its decisions,” he said.
Jimenez said Brawley’s order upends the entire carbon plan cycle.
Duke received its solar procurement requirement order at the end of 2024, and it purchased about half that requirement in 2025, which was its target for that year, he said. For this year’s procurement, Duke proposed an amount lower than the second half because of changes like federal tax credits and delaying carbon goals.
Curry added that a mix of resources fueling North Carolina’s grid, including solar, “just makes us more resilient, and will create a more affordable future.”
She said Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper’s planned natural gas plant in South Carolina has grown in cost from $2.5 billion to more than $5 billion, which impacts consumers.
“By the time folks are seeing the impacts to their bills and are locked into decades of fuel volatility, it will likely be too late,” she said.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified the companies behind the planned natural gas plant in South Carolina.
