Southeast’s Top Projects - 1

Cliffside Steam Station Modernization

Project Cost: $1.8 billion

The $1.8 billion modernization of Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station on the Rutherford/Cleveland county line in North Carolina will add capacity to the coal-fired electrical power plant and reduce emissions through the introduction of cleaner coal technologies.

The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, La., began construction on the project in January 2008 and was more than 30% complete in April. The company provides engineering, procurement and construction services. Approximately 1,000 workers were onsite this spring, with peak expected at between 1,600 and 1,800. The project is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Duke is adding an 825-megawatt advanced cleaner-coal unit, number 6, and a flue gas desulfurization scrubber to its existing Unit 5. It will retire four 1940s-era, 200-megawatt units once the new unit comes online.

The modernization will increase the plant’s output by 80%, from 760 to 1,360 megawatts and reduce most emissions. Duke Energy adds between 40,000 and 60,000 new customers each year. It serves approximately 4 million U.S. customers and has approximately 36,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas.

Sulfur dioxide emissions will decrease by half, if the new unit is operated at maximum capacity. Air emissions systems will remove 99% of the sulfur dioxide emissions and 90% of the nitrogen oxide emission from the flue gas.

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The plant currently emits approximately 150 lbs of mercury annually, but once the new facilities are operational and the old units offline, the equipment will remove up to 90% of the mercury.

The unit’s closed-loop cooling towers will require less water and decrease thermal effects on the Broad River. The plant currently withdraws 420 cu ft of water per second to cool the plant, but once the new units are operational and the old retired, it will draw about 50 cu ft of water per second.

The company selected the new supercritical pulverized coal unit because it is able to use a variety of high- and low-sulfur fuels.

Duke received $125 million in federal clean coal tax credits for the project. The power company has committed to making Cliffside Unit 6 carbon neutral by 2018.

Key Facts:

Location: Rutherford/Cleveland county line, N.C.
Owner: Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C.
Engineer and Contractor: The Shaw Group, Baton Rouge, La.
Start Date: January 2008
Completion Date: 2012