Eleven North Carolina Coal Plants to Close

Progress Energy Carolinas, a subsidiary of Progress Energy, plans to shut down 11 coal-burning power units in North Carolina by 2017. Those units represent about 30 percent of the company’s coal-fired power generation.

The company made the decision in anticipation of impending federal restrictions on air pollution. The units that are scheduled to shut down do not have scrubbers, which control some pollutants; the company judged that retrofitting the old plants, built between 1952 and 1972, would not make economic sense.

The plan is to replace the lost power generation from the coal plants with new natural gas-fired units. They will continue to operate three coal-fired plants in the state.

Statewide, North Carolina still gets more than half of its electricity from coal.

- Suzanne Bopp

Related posts:

1. In South Carolina, Protests of Dirty Energy and Recognition for Clean Alternatives
2. Florida Coal Plant Gets Cancelled
3. Report: Coal Pollution Damages Human Health at Every Stage of Coal Life Cycle
4. Court Challenges Result in Two Coal Mines Idled
5. Plans for an Ohio Coal-Fired Power Plant Cancelled