Duke Energy in the Midst of $1.9 Billion Environmental Upgrade Program for its Coal-Fired Power Plants in North Carolina

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Duke Power Company, a business unit of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)(Charlotte, North Carolina), is continuing with development of environmental upgrade projects to reduce NOx, SO2, and mercury, in excess of $1.9 billion at its coal-fired power plants in North Carolina. Construction is scheduled to begin Fall 2005 on a $400 million project at the Belews Creek Power Station in Belews Creek, North Carolina. The project will involve the installation of two wet Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) scrubbers to reduce sulfur oxide emissions. Completion of the scrubber additions is set for the first quarter of 2008.

The 2,160-megawatt Belews Creek Power Station in Forsyth County is the largest coal-burning plant on the Duke Power System, and the largest coal-fired station in North Carolina. It consists of two Siemens Westinghouse cross-compound turbine/generator sets, with two Babcock & Wilcox opposed-fired dry bottom boilers. Commercial operation started in 1974.

The Belews Creek plant was retrofitted with the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units in 2004 to comply with federal regulations on nitrogen oxide emissions level at a cost of around $350 million. Nitrogen oxide is a major component of smog, and has a major role in ground-level ozone problems.

The scrubbers are designed to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions up to ninety-nine percent by using an alkaline sorbent reagent such as limestone in a spray form into the exhaust gas system of a boiler. The alkali reacts with the SO2 gas and is accumulated in a liquid form as calcium sulfite slurry.

Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation (Englewood, Colorado), a subsidiary of the Shaw Group Incorporated (NYSE: SGR) (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), is the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. Alstom Power Incorporated (NYSE: ALS) (Windsor, Connecticut) is involved in the engineering and designing aspects, as well as supplying major equipment for the project. The two companies are also involved with similar scrubber addition projects at Duke’s Marshall and Allen plants. Construction is underway at the 2,000-megawatt coal-fired Marshall Power Station (Terrell, North Carolina) and completion of that project is expected at the end of 2007. (See related January 19, 2005, news article - FGD Scrubbers Under Construction at 2,000-Megawatt Duke Power Plant in North Carolina. Duke previously completed a $140 million NOx emission reduction project at the Marshall plant. The company is also evaluating mercury reduction as well.

The scrubber project at Allen power station in Belmont, North Carolina is not scheduled to begin construction for a year and a half. Low-NOx burners were installed in the spring of 2004 on the 275 MW Unit #5 at Allen.

The fourth Duke Power plant in North Carolina that is part of the environmental program is the Cliffside Steam Station in Cliffside, North Carolina, which is adding a wet scrubber to its Unit #5. That project is scheduled for completion in 2006.

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