Duke Energy Power Partners Cited for Innovation and Community Involvement

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Energy innovation and a strong commitment to the community represent key traits shared by the 2008 Duke Energy Power Partner Award winners.

This year’s award winners achieved production goals, greater energy efficiency and contributed to the region’s economic development.

Created in 1993, the Duke Energy Power Partner Awards recognize commercial and industrial customers as well as community-oriented organizations who share Duke Energy’s commitment to excellence and the implementation of strategic energy solutions.

This year’s winners are:

Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LP), a 2005 Power Partner winner, has achieved annual energy savings of over $500,000 through the innovative use of infrared technology to dry primer coating for its hardboard siding products at its Roaring River, N.C. plant. Duke Energy and Advanced Energy, a Raleigh, N.C., nonprofit organization that supports energy innovation, worked with LP to convert five traditional drying ovens to more efficient infrared technology over the past three years to achieve these significant energy savings.

Cree Inc.
A leader in energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology, Cree Inc. has relied on Duke Energy’s track record for power quality, reliability and customer service to produce LED products for residential and commercial lighting, cell phones, traffic lights and other applications.

Recently, Duke Energy and Cree initiated a joint pilot to test and gather field data on the use of pole-mounted LED exterior lighting fixtures for Cree’s Durham, N.C. headquarters. Independent studies by Advanced Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute will provide valuable data to determine the commercial viability of LED technology for exterior lighting applications.

Salisbury-Rowan County Economic Development Commission
The Salisbury-Rowan County Economic Development Commission (EDC) played a key role in helping acquire a conditional use permit and bringing Duke Energy’s Buck Combustion Turbine Combined Cycle (CTCC) plant to Rowan County. Thanks largely to the EDC’s support, the Rowan County Commissioners approved an incentive package that will rebate 42 percent of the property taxes for the new plant for the first 10 years of combined-cycle operation.

The Buck CTCC plant will mean approximately $23.1 million in new property taxes, approximately $2.94 million for the Miller Ferry Fire District, 500 construction jobs for 18 months, and 10 new jobs to the Rowan County economy. Partnerships with community organizations like the Salisbury-Rowan EDC help meet the demand for new generation while providing an economic stimulus to the local economy.

Verdae Development Inc.
Verdae Development, Inc. has started the implementation of a $1.9 billion, 1,100 acre master planned mixed-used community that will become the home to some 10,000
residents, 550 businesses, and 15,000 jobs in Greenville, S.C. Duke Energy was selected as Verdae’s sole supplier of outdoor lighting, and has worked through complex right-of-way and service issues in support of the project. The new development will feature one of the largest underground electric service duct systems in the Carolinas built under Duke Energy’s supervision.

Sealed Air
Sealed Air manufactures plastic-film that is used in food packaging, medical packaging, and general packaging industries. Low-cost, reliable and efficient energy are important to its success and expansion. With Duke Energy’s assistance, the company has installed high-efficiency lighting at its Seneca, S.C. facility and plans to complete a similar installation at its Simpsonville, S.C. plant. Sealed Air has also installed three electric boilers over the past three years to achieve productivity and efficiency gains.

AbitibiBowater – Catawba Operations
A major Duke Energy customer and strong community partner, AbitibiBowater operates a large pulp and paper manufacturing facility along the Catawba River in York County, S.C. During the current drought, the two companies have worked closely in addressing impacts on their operations on the Catawba River. AbitibiBowater reduced the site’s water usage by 30 percent.

In addition, AbitibiBowater played a key role in the support of Duke Energy’s Catawba-Wateree relicensing process and has significantly reduced electric load at the plant during periods of high demand on the electric system.

Duke Energy’s Carolinas operations include nuclear, coal-fired, natural gas and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides nearly 19,000 net megawatts of electricity to approximately 2.4 million electric customers in a 22,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million U.S. customers and natural gas service to approximately 520,000 customers in its regulated jurisdictions. The company has approximately 35,000 net megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 net megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.