Regulators in North Carolina have accredited Duke Power’s plan to exchange among the utility’s coal-fired models with pure gas-fired technology.
The North Carolina Utilities Fee in December issued orders in assist of the gas-fired models. The state’s Dept. of Environmental High quality (DEQ) on Dec. 20 granted air permits for the gas-fired crops.
Duke plans to exchange two of the 4 coal-fired models at Individual County’s Roxboro plant with gas-fired mixed cycle models by 2029 that will have 1,360 MW of technology capability. The utility in its allow utility stated the brand new generators would enter service by 2029 as a part of the Individual County Power Complicated. The coal-fired Models 1 and 4 on the web site could be retired, whereas the coal-fired Models 2 and three would proceed to function till 2034.
Duke additionally plans to exchange two of the 4 coal-fired models on the 2,100-MW Marshall plant in Catawba County with gas-fired mills that will have a complete of 850 MW of capability. The Marshall station was commissioned in 1965.
“We admire the assist of Individual and Catawba counties. We stay up for working collectively as we transition to cleaner power in a way that retains North Carolina’s economic system thriving, whereas persevering with to guard grid reliability and affordability for our prospects,” Invoice Norton, a Duke Power spokesman, stated in a written assertion.
Duke has stated it wants to make use of pure fuel, as an alternative of intermittent renewable power, with a purpose to preserve grid stability and reliability because it transitions away from coal-fired technology. Duke final yr stated the utility plans to have not less than 17.5 GW of photo voltaic power in its portfolio inside 15 years.
The Utilities Fee accredited the brand new amenities as a part of its joint carbon dioxide discount and useful resource planning course of. Critics have argued that Duke ought to put money into extra renewable power.
“We’re upset that the 2 permits have been granted and we’re hopeful that steps may be taken to deal with what we see as sadly an growing pattern for an increasing number of fuel to be constructed out in our state, which is opposite to what state regulation requires and is opposite to the state’s general clear transition aims,” Munashe Magarira, a Southern Environmental Legislation Heart senior lawyer, advised The Information & Observer newspaper in Charlotte.
The DEQ as a part of its approval stated Duke should shut down the 2 remaining coal-fired boilers on the Marshall plant as soon as the brand new gas-fired models are working. Duke stated that after 2029 there will probably be a time frame when the 2 new gas-fired generators at Roxboro are working together with the present 4 coal-fired models, giving the station greater than 4 GW of technology capability till two of the coal-fired boilers are retired.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
