Duke Energy has secured approval to replace a coal-fired power plant in North Caroliina, USA, with a $1 billion natural gas facility.
The US energy firm had applied to the North Carolina Utilities Commission to build two 280 MW combined cycle generating units to replace the 376 MW Asheville plant, which will be retired by 2020.
Construction of the new gas-fired power plant is scheduled to start in 2016 and the units will be in service by late 2019, Duke said. The firm is also planning to invest in solar capacity and energy storage over the next seven years, and has embarked on a programme with local communities in western North Carolina to reduce daily and peak demand.
Duke says that the new gas fired power plant will have considerable environmental benefits over the existing coal-fired unit, including a 60 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and a 99 per cent reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions. The project also includes upgrades to existing transmission equipment on the Asheville site.
Population growth and economic growth are expected to continue driving up energy demand in Duke's western North Carolina service area, the firm said. Peak demand has more than tripled in the region since 1970 and over the next ten years overall power demand is expected to increase by more than 17 per cent.
Duke wants to build 15 MW of solar energy capacity in the next seven years as well as a 5 MW energy storage facility. It says that if it is successful in curbing daily and peak demand growth, it will be able to delay or cancel plans for the construction of a 186 MW simple cycle power plant.
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