PERSON COUNTY, N.C. — Ten years after the Dan River coal ash spill, Duke Energy has announced the expansion of the next generation in energy — hydrogen-capable natural gas.
In August 2023, the company announced the construction of a new natural gas plant at the current Roxboro coal plant site in Person County. But just this month, the company filed with state regulators needing to double that investment and build a second plant to accommodate the economic growth North Carolina is seeing.
The Roxboro plant has been generating power for nearly 60 years and is the backbone that North Carolina thrives on, but Bill Norton, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, said Duke hopes to retire this coal plant in just shy of 10 years and replace it with two hydrogen-capable natural gas plants at the existing site.
“Ultimately, we do need to get out of coal, for our customers,” Norton said. “Coal is going to get more scarce and more expensive.”
Not only is coal less environmentally friendly, but it’s also not enough to keep up with the current energy demands. Norton said the economic growth in North Carolina has made the energy demand eight times higher than they expected.
“So if you were to look at all of the generation that we have built in the last 60 years, every coal plant, nuclear plant, hydro plant, all the solar that has enabled North Carolina to become No. 4 in the nation for solar power, we're going to have to build half of that again in the next decade just to meet the need,” Norton said.
Norton said the transition to natural gas will also eliminate 250,000 tons of new coal ash produced each year, and Duke's goal is to have the first gas plant online in 2028.
“People are moving here, companies are moving here. Jobs are being created, investments are happening and clean energy is critical to all that,” Norton said.
Coal used to generate around 50% of North Carolina’s energy, but today it’s 10%. There are 14 coal plants across the state, some operational like the Roxboro site, others that are now closed as Duke Energy makes the transition to clean energy. Norton said natural gas now makes up the half the energy that coal was once responsible for.
“Coal has been the fuel that powered North Carolina's economy for decades from textile mills onward, we would not be here as a thriving state — the No. 1 state for business in the nation — without coal plants,” Norton said.
There is not a projected cost yet for the two natural gas plants in Person County. Norton said construction could begin as soon as the end of 2025.