One of two states in the south with renewable electricity portfolio standards (REPS), North Carolina is now on course to create 12.5% of its electricity from renewable by 2021, and the path became a little smoother with a recent court ruling.

Duke Energy, an investor-owned utility, began test burning wood with coal (cofiring) in two of its coal plants, the Buck and the Lee Steam stations, and went to the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) to request that these stations be designated as renewable energy facilities. At these facilities, Duke expressed its intention to use a range of “wood biomass fuel resources,” including logging residues, sawdust, pre-commercial thinnings and wood chips from whole trees.

During the hearing before the NCUC, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and North Carolina Sustainable Energy Assn. (NCSEA) argued that “wood chips from whole trees” did not qualify as renewable. In the end, the NCUC determined that whole trees do fall under the definition of renewable sources as outlined in the NC REPS law, and it granted Duke’s Buck and Lee Steam stations as renewable energy facility status.

Following this decision, however, the EDF and the NCSEA appealed. The Court of Appeals heard the case and unanimously upheld the NCUC decision, agreeing that whole trees are biomass resources for the purpose of meeting the NC standards.