For its 25th consecutive year, Duke Energy has selected six outstanding organizations to receive the company’s prestigious Power Partner award.
Duke Energy established the Power Partner award in 1992 to honor businesses and other organizations that achieve exemplary results in categories that include solutions innovation, community excellence, economic development, sustainability innovation and storm restoration.
The City of Asheville and Buncombe County were named as joint recipients this year in the Innovation in Sustainability category. On Jan. 11, Duke officially presented the award to the City of Asheville and Buncombe County in a ceremony at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.
In citing the City and County for the award, Duke said:
In 2016, the city of Asheville and Buncombe County worked with Duke Energy to convene the Energy Innovation Task Force aimed at achieving three goals:
- Avoid or delay the need for a new peaking power plant in western North Carolina;
- Promote energy efficiency and demand-side management; and
- Create programs through close community engagement.
The Energy Innovation Task Force’s Blue Horizons Project, for example, is a coordinated effort to engage all customers (residential, commercial and industrial) in helping build a cleaner and smarter energy future for the region.
“Taking a leadership role, Asheville and Buncombe County also participate in Duke Energy’s demand side management program and are working with Duke Energy on a utility-scale renewable energy project,” Duke said in a press release.
Along with the award came a $100,000 grant from Duke Energy for Asheville Greenworks. Both the City of Asheville and Buncombe County have partnerships with Asheville Greenworks, an environmental conservation organization to enhance the environment through community-based, volunteer-led projects and education programs. This grant is for an urban forestry initiative.
Read the full press release with information about all of the recipients at this link.