Principal Michael Hagerty submitted testimony on behalf of the Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association in the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) proceedings on Duke Energy Carolinas’ and Duke Energy Progress’ 2025 Biennial Consolidated Carbon Plan and Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs).

In his testimony, provided in March 2026, Mr. Hagerty evaluated Duke’s IRP modeling assumptions and the value of solar resources to the Duke system. He examined the solar additions proposed in Duke’s Near-Term Action Plan and provided several recommendations for the NCUC to consider, including:

Increasing the solar procurement targets in Duke’s Near-Term Action Plan from an average of 770 MW per year to at least 1,000 per year for 2026–2028 request for proposals (RFPs)
Require Duke to update its modeling to reflect the full value of battery storage, and improve its representation of transactions with its neighboring systems
Require Duke to study the effectiveness of the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) in enabling cost-saving transactions with neighboring systems and to identify improvements that could unlock additional savings

Mr. Hagerty’s testimony can be found below.

View NCUC Testimony

View Hearing Video

Experts Involved