US power utility Duke Energy has changed its plans on the modernisation of its Asheville power plant in North Carolina (United States). The coal-fired power plant consists of two units commissioned in 1964 (191 MW) and in 1971 (185 MW), while two gas turbine units were added in 1999-2000 (327 MW).
In May 2015, the company had announced that it would retire its 376 MW Asheville coal-fired power plant by 2020 and would invest US$750m in the construction of a 650 MW gas-fired power plant (including solar generation capacity) on the site. Duke Energy has now decided to replace the coal-fired units by two 280 MW gas- and oil-fired CCGT units (instead of a single 605 MW unit) by 2020; a third, simple-cycle, 190 MW unit could be added in 2023 or later. Duke Energy is still considering developing solar power capacity on the site. However, the company has scrapped its plans to invest US$320m in the construction of a transmission substation near Campobello (South Carolina) and of a 230 kV transmission line, that are no longer necessary (smaller generation units). Duke Energy will rather rebuild existing transmission lines and upgrade related substations. Total investment is estimated at US$1.1bn.
Interested in Power Plants?
Enerdata has developed a market research service to screen, monitor and analyse the development of power generation assets.
Power Plant Tracker offers an interactive database and a powerful search engine covering power plants worldwide – including both installed and planned capacities for renewables and fossil fuels.