WILMINGTON, N.C. - Duke Energy Progress' new 625-megawatt (MW) L.V. Sutton combined-cycle natural gas plant has begun serving North Carolina and South Carolina customers.
The approximately $600-million plant replaces the existing three-unit, 575 MW coal-fired plant that the company recently retired after 59 years of service.
It represents a significant milestone in the company's ongoing commitment to generate electricity in cleaner, more efficient ways.
The new plant uses state-of-the-art technology and air quality controls that result in significantly lower emissions than those of the coal plant it replaces. The following figures are compared to coal plant operations in 2007:
- Sulfur dioxide will be reduced by 99 percent
- Nitrogen oxides will be reduced by 97 percent
- Carbon dioxide will be reduced by 41 percent
"We continue to transform our power plant fleet while maintaining our focus on generating electricity that is both reliable and affordable," said Allen Clare, Duke Energy Progress' Sutton plant manager. "Our new natural gas plant is another stride forward in meeting customer needs using highly efficient, increasingly clean energy sources."
Duke Energy has invested $9 billion in the last 10 years to build several advanced natural gas and coal plants in North Carolina and Indiana.
The new plants will allow the company to retire nearly 6,800 MW of older coal and large oil-fired units.
Nearly 6,300 MW of the capacity Duke Energy will retire is coal, which represents 25 percent of its coal fleet. By the end of 2013, Duke Energy will have retired more than 3,800 MW of that 6,300 MW, including the Sutton coal plant.
Sutton's first coal unit began operating in 1954; two additional units were added in 1955 and 1972, respectively.
Duke Energy soon will begin a multiyear decommissioning process that will result in safely deconstructing the coal units and effectively closing the site's coal ash basins to protect groundwater.
About Duke Energy Progress
Duke Energy Progress, a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), provides electricity and related services to nearly 1.5 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and serves a territory encompassing more than 34,000 square miles including the cities of Raleigh, Wilmington and Asheville in North Carolina and Florence and Sumter in South Carolina. More information is available at http://www.progress-energy.com.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 250 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at: www.duke-energy.com.