New generation nearing the finish line
To provide cleaner, more efficient electricity to our millions of customers, Duke Energy is proactively modernizing our generating facilities. Retrofits and replacement of several of our aging, high-emitting units are nearing completion.
Cleaner-coal construction update
After four-plus years of construction and more than $2 billion spent at the Cliffside Steam Station in southwest North Carolina, the new clean-coal unit 6 is expected to begin commercial operation in September. It will be one of the cleanest coal-burning units in the U.S., generating 825 megawatts (MW) — enough to power 660,000 homes at any one time.
Four older Cliffside units were retired last year, and unit 5 has been retrofitted with a sulfur dioxide emissions “scrubber.” The modernized two-unit facility will generate more than twice the electricity than the five units did previously, while emitting 80 percent less sulfur dioxide, 50 percent less nitrogen oxides and 50 percent less mercury.
The 618-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) Edwardsport project in Indiana is also nearing completion, with extensive start-up and testing procedures well under way. Like Cliffside, Edwardsport is key to modernizing the company’s power fleet.
The new facility, which will convert coal into a synthetic gas and strip out most pollutants, will make Edwardsport one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the world. It will produce 10 times as much power as the plant it replaces, while emitting less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury. We pursued this technology partly because it allows us to continue using Indiana coal, a plentiful local resource, to produce energy.
The Edwardsport project has had its challenges. A plant using this technology has never been built on this scale before, and the project’s scope and complexity drove costs up to an estimated $2.98 billion, plus financing costs. While that’s more than we originally anticipated, we have proposed significant steps to mitigate the impact on customers’ rates, including capping cost recovery at $2.72 billion, plus applicable financing costs.
Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission hearings on the project occurred in 2011 and early 2012. The commission’s decision on how much of the project’s costs can be charged to customers is not expected before the end of the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the plant is due to begin commercial operation by the fall of 2012.
Natural gas update
The Buck combustion turbine combined-cycle (CTCC) plant in Rowan County, N.C., began commercial operation in November 2011, ahead of schedule and under budget. The Dan River CTCC plant in Eden, N.C. is also on time and on budget. Construction is about 70 percent complete and on schedule to begin commercial operation in late 2012.
Hydropower update
Hydroelectricity continues to play an important role in Duke Energy’s diverse energy mix by providing clean, renewable power to our customers.
In November 2011, three new units at the Bridgewater Hydro Station on Lake James in Morganton, N.C., became operable and available for service. The new 31.5-MW powerhouse increases the station’s capacity by 8.5 MW. Oct. 17, 2011, marked the official last day of operation of two 1919-vintage turbines. The new powerhouse was constructed downstream to make room for federally required seismic stability work on Lake James’ Linville Dam.
Also in 2011, we replaced two turbines at our Jocassee pumped-storage facility in South Carolina, increasing the station’s capacity by 50 MW.
Duke Energy Brazil’s Palmeiras small hydro plant (SHP) began commercial operation in February 2012. Electricity generated at Palmeiras is already contracted for sale through 2017. Retiro SHP, located in the same region, will begin operation in November 2012. Together, the plants will provide 32 MW of installed capacity.
Read about Duke Energy’s use of renewable energy in the Innovative Products and Services section of this report.
