North Carolina Energy Facts

North Carolina’s first electric lights sizzled to life in 1881. Arc lamps ran off a rotor inside a magnetic field. It was a cotton mill in Salem, NC. Almost 140 years later:

• As of May 2021, North Carolina ranks  3^rd place for total solar power capacity.
• Hydroelectric power is the second-largest source of renewable generation in North Carolina
• North Carolina has 112 public and private fueling stations that supply diesel fuel blended with at least 20% biodiesel. About one-seventh of the nation’s total biodiesel fueling stations are in North Carolina.
• North Carolina was sixth among the states in electricity net generation from nuclear power in 2019, about 5% of the nation’s total. Nuclear power recaptured the top spot in 2019 as the largest source of North Carolina’s electricity generation, surpassing natural gas to provide about 32% of in-state electricity.
• North Carolina consumes almost four times more energy than it produces. Total energy consumption per capita in North Carolina is among the lowest one-third of the states.
• NC ranks in the 10 states with the lowest per capita petroleum use, but its annual expenditures for gasoline is in the top 10 states.
• More than four-fifths of the petroleum consumed in NC is used by the transportation sector, primarily as motor gasoline and diesel fuel.