Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) recently announced that it would transform one of its coal-powered power plants located in North Carolina into a natural gas plant.
Duke ENERGY, which is the largest power company in the United States in terms of production capacity, claimed that the gas plant will be up and running in the next five years. The energy company announced that it will terminate the New Carolina plant to pave the way for a more efficient introduction.
The company is highly motivated with the new plant because if promises to produces almost double the output from the coal power plant. Duke expects an output of 650 megawatts from the new natural gas power plant. The coal power plant had an output of 376 megawatts. In addition to the new plant, the company has plans to introduce solar generation to the same site.
The energy giant has set aside $1.1 billion as the budgeted amount for the project. A proportion of this amount estimated at $320 million will be used to upgrade the groundwork including a 40-mile transmission line. The company will also build a substation.
The news came as a positive relief from Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) considering the fact that the company was found guilty of crimes against the environment. The company admitted to ash spills in one of its coal ash management basins a week ago. Duke Energy admitted to the allegations as part of the settlement agreement with the Justice Department on Friday.
The termination of the coal plant is part of Duke’s strategy to migrate into more environmentally friendly production methods. Most power production companies have already begun to adopt more efficient production means in line with the government’s requirements to reduce carbon emissions.
So far, plants producing an accumulative 4,100 megawatts have already been shut down to reduce coal emissions. More plants are expected to shut down this year as various organization seek alternative energy production means. Companies like Tesla are already ahead of the game.
