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    Carolina Power Partners' King Mountain gas-fired plant powering Appalachian State University Distribution Utility

    Jan. 7, 2022
    Under the new purchase agreement with CPP, NRLP also will purchase hydroelectric power, which will increase its renewable energy purchase portfolio from just below 2% to 15%
    Photo credit Clayhefner, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
    Appalachian State Sanford Mall 61d83caccd537

    Appalachian State University’s electric utility, New River Light and Power (NRLP) has switched to Carolina Power Partners (CPP) as its new electric service provider.

    Under the new purchase agreement with CPP, NRLP also will purchase hydroelectric power, which will increase its renewable energy purchase portfolio from just below 2% to 15%. NRLP will also be able to continue exploring additional renewable energy sources.

    NRLP’s General Manager Ed Miller said, “It is important that NRLP provides safe and reliable utilities to our customers at affordable and competitive rates. CPP is a Carolina-based company that owns one of the most efficient, state-of-the-art power generating facilities and has demonstrated success in other similar communities. After an extensive review by our team and advisors, we believe this new energy contract with CPP will help us continue to meet our core objectives, while also providing increased accessibility to renewable energy opportunities.”

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    Most of the energy supplied to the university and its electric utility will be from the Kings Mountain Energy Center, which is a 475 MW combined-cycle power plant in Cleveland County, N.C. An affiliate of NTE Energy developed the Kings Mountain power plant, which was completed and became operational in 2018.

    New River Light and Power is a university-owned distribution utility, operated by the school's Division of Business Affairs, which has about 8,500 residential and commercial customers in or around the campus town of Boone, N.C. The utility also works on delivering energy efficiency projects across campus buildings.

    The NRLP is one of 12 utilities in the Carolinas that have entered into a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with CPP. The latter is a wholesale electricity provider.

    A total of three cities in South Carolina and nine in North Carolina have PPAs with CPP.

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    EnergyTech covers the electricity resiliency projects of large-scale users such as college campuses. We report Insights into the C&I Energy Transition, including mission critical customers such as military bases, data centers, health care, universities and industrial manufacturers. Contact Senior Editor Rod Walton at rwalton@endeavorb2b if you have story ideas or questions.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.