The American energy company, Duke Energy Carolinas, has announced its plan to operate a 750-megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle plant. The scheduled location is the existing Lee Steam Station site in Anderson County, South Carolina.
Duke Energy has stated that the decision to move forward with this project is part of a comprehensive long-term plan to add new generation, modernize the fleet, maintain a diverse fuel portfolio and manage customer costs while delivering a high-quality, reliable power supply. The Public Service Commission of South Carolina approved the plant last month and construction is scheduled to begin in Summer 2015. Duke Energy is also procuring equipment with the hopes that the project will be commercially available in November 2017.
“Natural gas-fired combined cycle plants are a good match to meet the significant energy needs of our customers over the next 15 years, and are expected to be an important part of the future Duke Energy Carolinas generation portfolio,” said Clark Gillespy, Duke Energy state president, South Carolina. “They are very efficient in the production of electricity using natural gas as fuel and have very low plant emissions.”