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Rising coal and coal plant capital costs may alter Duke Energy plans

November 19, 2006 By Rod Adams

Duke Energy has been planning to build a couple of large coal fired power plants near Charlotte. The project, which Duke officially calls the Cliffside Steam Station Modernization includes building two “state of the art” 800 MWe coal fired steam plants and decommissioning four small plants with a total capacity of 198 MWe that are currently units 1-4 of the Cliffside Steam Station.

There has been some opposition to the proposal; you can read about that at some of the following links:

  • Electronic Blockade Against Duke Energy’s new Cliffside Coal Power Plant
  • Cliffside Expansion Must Be Stopped!
  • As We Speed Into a Climate Crisis, Duke Energy Hits the Gas

The opposition had not yet succeeded in changing Duke’s plans, but it appears that a more substantial obstacle, in the form of changed economics is beginning to intercede. According to several recent articles including Rising costs could kill coal plant proposal, the construction cost estimate for the two new plants has increased from $2 billion to $3 billion.

At that price, the coal plant capital cost begins to look very similar to the projected capital costs for new nuclear plants. In addition, there is a mention in the article that pulverized coal prices have also increased, a trend that could lead to increased life cycle operating costs for the facility. Since the electricity that the plants would have produced is needed, Duke is going to present some options to the Public Utility Commission that include natural gas, power purchases from other utilities, and purchasing existing power stations. Pressure groups will attempt to include efficiency programs and renewables as additional options.

Unfortunately, the article concludes with a statement that options that Duke will present to the Public Utility Commission do not include replacing the Cliffside proposal with new nuclear plants – apparently there is a deadline of 2011 for replacing the four existing coal plants.

That is a bit too soon for new nuclear plants to be licensed and constructed. If there were a few more years available, North Carolina could gain a facility that would help alleviate air pollution for the next 60-100 years. Oh well. . .

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About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

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