Duke Energy Corp. is targeting a 2026 construction start for a new natural gas plant in Catawba County, according to a filing with the N.C. Utilities Commission.
The Charlotte Business Journal reported, the Charlotte-based energy giant applied last week to build two 425-megawatt, natural gas-powered combustion turbines at the Marshall Steam Station site on Lake Norman. The new hydrogen-capable gas units will aid the company’s plans to retire the longstanding coal-powered operations at the Marshall site.
Duke hopes to open the new natural gas units by 2029, NCUC filings show. The project is part of the company’s larger plan to reduce its carbon emissions while keeping up with rising energy demand.
Duke announced its plans for the Catawba County investment last year as part of its updated Carolinas Resource Plan filing. The resource plan lays out Duke’s pathway to reach the state-mandated target of 70% carbon emissions reduction from 2005 levels by the 2030s.
The utilities giant is hoping to secure NCUC approval in the fourth quarter to build the Catawba County project. If approved, the gas units would facilitate the permanent retirement of the first two coal units at the Marshall site by the end of 2028. The final two coal units there would operate into the early 2030s. Duke plans to retire all of its coal plants by 2035.
The total investment in the new natural gas plant has not been disclosed. A cost summary filed with NCUC was heavily redacted. A Duke spokesperson said the total cost is confidential, as the company will be taking bids for the project.
Duke expects to employ 10 to 20 full-time workers at the new combustion turbines. Duke anticipates the project’s construction to create 800 temporary jobs.
The Marshall Steam Station has operated in Catawba County since 1965. Duke retrofitted the Marshall site in 2021 to allow it to burn natural gas in addition to coal.
“To ensure the clean energy transition happens at the lowest cost to customers, with equal or greater reliability, Duke Energy is prioritizing existing plant sites like Marshall for replacement generation, leveraging our current infrastructure, transmission system and workforce,” a spokesperson told the Charlotte Business Journal. “The CTs will be constructed on a 20-acre parcel within existing plant property, about a mile northeast of the coal units, and will be supplied by an existing natural gas pipeline serving the current dual-fuel units.”
Kendal Bowman, Duke’s North Carolina president, told CBJ earlier this year that the company is working to accommodate unprecedented energy demand. Duke in January filed a supplemental update to its resource plan in the Carolinas. That filing showed an acceleration of offshore wind and uptick in natural gas investments to meet rising demand.
The Catawba County investment joins another new natural gas project proposed at Duke’s Roxboro Plant site in Person County.
