Duke Energy to Revisit Coal Plans If Trump Axes Pollution Rules

(Bloomberg) -- Duke Energy Corp. said it would consider shifting its plans for coal plants if Donald Trump follows through on his promises to terminate rules that stifle power-plant pollution.

In the event of a regulatory rollback, the utility would reexamine plans to convert some coal-fired units in Indiana to also run on natural gas, Chief Financial Officer Brian Savoy said in an interview Thursday. 

In the event of a policy shift, “we’ll see if the dual conversions in Indiana make sense” or if it would be better to keep those units solely coal-burning, Savoy said. “The pace of the energy transition could change.”

The push to move away from coal and toward clean energy sources like wind and solar had already been complicated by an unexpected boom in power demand from data centers, new factories and overall electrification of the US economy. Since Trump is a fossil fuel enthusiast who has vowed to undo key federal policies encouraging the energy transition, the pace of that pivot seems likely to slow.

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