A conversation with Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good on when to test your assumptions and how to make incremental adjustments to your strategy.
is leading Duke Energy’s aggressive transition to renewables and net zero emissions. It’s a complex undertaking that involves short-term planning and long-term advances in technology as well as managing a wide range of stakeholders.sits down with Good to discuss her strategy for Duke’s clean energy transition. They discuss how to make incremental adjustments to strategy as new technologies emerge.
In this episode, HBR editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius sits down with Good to discuss her strategy for Duke’s clean energy transition. LYNN GOOD: Adi, it’s a really good question because Duke has been a recognized leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship for a long time. But what I would share with you is that leadership has matured and changed over time because we’re sitting here in 2023 with a demonstrated track record of carbon reduction above 40% and with targets established for 2030 and 2040 and 2050.
LYNN GOOD: Sure, we are watching a number of things, Adi, hydrogen and carbon capture, really thinking about those as technologies that could be complementary to natural gas and natural gas infrastructure. The operating characteristics of natural gas are so complementary to renewables, to retirement of coal, that we are advancing our understanding of both of those technologies.
LYNN GOOD: Being in the conversation, Adi, among policymakers, in our statehouses, among our customers is important no matter what. And you mentioned the dimension of economic development. Every state in which we operate is interested in attracting jobs. Every state in which we operate would like to have a stronger manufacturing base, would like to have more commercial customers, more jobs.
LYNN GOOD: I think every company is, despite the collaboration, Adi, positioned in a different way. And some of the challenges and opportunities that Duke may differ from a utility that’s on the West Coast or one that’s in the Northeast. The good news about Duke Energy, positioned primarily in the Southeast, although we have a Midwestern position in Indiana and Ohio as well, is we’ve experienced extraordinary growth, population growth, economic development growth.
LYNN GOOD: It’s a really good question. And we actually have a disciplined approach, I would say, around that forward-looking view of key assumptions and drivers for our business. We actually present to our board in June of each year. And so, we start each year with an expectation around what are the key assumptions that we believe, we’re counting on to be right for 2024, 2025, 2026, and beyond. And then we try to test them.
LYNN GOOD: Adi, I don’t want to paint– that’s a monolithic statement too, is everyone OK with nuclear? I think what’s important is the commitment that the industry in the US has and really the industry around the world is safety because we understand that safety is job one at nuclear. And that will always be the case at Duke Energy. I think nuclear fuel at times can also be a question. Are we storing it safely? Yes, we are storing it safely.
LYNN GOOD: So, I assume he’s talking about electrification and the fact that all of the OEMs are looking to move into an electric vehicle future. And I would say we’ve talked a lot on this discussion about forms of generation, wind, solar, battery, nuclear. But we are also making investments aggressively in our grid, the transmission and distribution center, not only to accommodate this change in generation that’s underway, but also to enable electrification.
LYNN GOOD: Adi, it is ongoing work. So, the electric industry, gas industry, we are critical infrastructure for the US. We have had standards in the electric sector for a long time. Standards are under way in the natural gas pipeline sector as well. We have very strict compliance. We are audited. We work together as an industry, sharing resources when needed and also doing peer reviews so that we’re staying on top of things.
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