Charlotte-based Duke Energy is walking away from one of North Carolina’s biggest offshore wind bets and taking a hefty consolation prize on the way out. The company said Monday it will give up its Carolina Long Bay offshore wind lease and instead pour roughly $129 million into new power generation and grid upgrades across the Carolinas.
The decision abruptly closes the book on a marquee offshore wind prospect and shifts the focus from coastal job hopes to utility-controlled projects that will unfold mostly on land and in regulatory hearing rooms.
Federal Settlement Ends Carolina Long Bay Lease
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced a settlement in which Duke will voluntarily terminate its Carolina Long Bay lease and reinvest the equivalent value, about $129 million, into electricity generation and grid improvements in the Carolinas. “This settlement allows Duke Energy to refocus $129 million in ways that directly benefit our customers and communities in the Carolinas,” Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe said, according to the Department of the Interior. Federal officials cast the deal as one piece of the Biden administration’s broader energy agenda.
The Lease And What It Would Have Produced
The Carolina Long Bay lease covered roughly 110,000 acres in federal waters about 20 to 22 miles south of Bald Head Island. According to the final sale notice from BOEM, the project could have delivered at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore capacity, which federal officials said would be enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.
Duke and its partners picked up the tracts in the 2022 auction and started early development work, according to company materials. The utility later tapped the brakes, pausing active pursuit while it re-crunched costs and timelines, a review that ultimately helped set up Monday’s exit.
A Pattern In Washington
Duke’s move fits a recent pattern in Washington. Interior has struck a series of agreements in which offshore wind developers give back leases in return for federal reimbursements. E&E News reports that earlier deals, including a $765 million settlement with Invenergy, have pushed the administration’s total offshore lease buyback payments into the low billions.
State Politics And Rate Fights
The timing in Raleigh is hard to miss. Lawmakers in this year’s short session have been pushing bills pitched as shields against higher power bills, including SB 730 and HB 1192.
Analysts quoted in local coverage framed the settlement as a win for ratepayers, arguing that shifting money away from an expensive offshore wind buildout toward what they see as cheaper resources could ease future bill pressures. That commentary appeared in reporting by WBT.
Why Duke Says It Walked Away
Duke told state regulators in filings and in an ARFI review that the projected costs for offshore development came in above the reference price used in North Carolina’s planning process. In plain terms, the company concluded the offshore projects do not currently pencil out as cost-competitive.
Public filings and 2025 reporting laid out those economics and documented Duke’s choice to put offshore plans on hold while it studies other options, according to coverage by WUNC.
What’s Next For The Carolinas
Duke says the redirected funds may be steered toward new natural gas generation, advanced nuclear technologies and grid reliability projects. None of that happens quickly. Each path will require regulatory approval and years of planning, permitting and construction before any of it shows up on customer bills or local job boards.
Company disclosures indicate that advanced nuclear is one of the long-term options on the table, a reminder that the real replacement for the scrapped offshore wind capacity is still somewhere over the horizon. For more detail, see Duke Energy’s 2025 filings.
For Brunswick County and other coastal communities that had banked on manufacturing and supply-chain work tied to the wind project, the settlement is a hard stop. It underlines a reality that has become familiar along the Atlantic coast: whether offshore wind ever shows up in North Carolina waters now rests heavily on federal policy choices and utility math, not just local enthusiasm.
