Matching Utility Loads with Solar and Wind Power in North
Carolina: Dealing with Intermittent Electricity Sources by John
Blackburn, Ph.D. Professor of Economics Emeritus, Duke
University with a Foreword by Arjun Makhijani GROUNDBREAKING
STUDY FINDS SOLAR, WIND, OTHER RENEWABLE POWER SOURCES COULD
MEET NEARLY ALL NORTH CAROLINA ELECTRICITY NEEDS Takoma Park,
Maryland, and Durham, North Carolina, March 4, 2010: Solar and
wind power can supply the vast majority of North Carolina’s
electricity needs, according to a major report released today.
Combined with generation from hydroelectric and other renewable
sources, such as landfill gas, only six percent of electricity
would have to be purchased from outside the system or produced
at conventional plants. “Even though the wind does not blow nor
the sun shine all the time, careful management, readily
available storage and other renewable sources, can produce
nearly all the electricity North Carolinians consume,” explained
Dr. John Blackburn, the study’s author. Dr.