Progress Energy on fast-track to build clean-burning natural gas power plant

State regulators said today that Progress Energy can build a natural gas-fired power plant as part of a plan that will allow Progress to shut down three older coal-burning power plants near Goldsboro.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved the clean-burning gas plant in Wayne County under a state law enacted in July by the General Assembly and limited to this construction request by Raleigh-based Progress. The law required the commission to issue a ruling on the plant within 45 days, while the standard regulatory review would have taken at least six months for a power plant construction request.

The natural gas plant will have a capacity of 950 megawatts and is planned for operation in 2013. Progress will spend an estimated $900 million to build the plant, which still requires an air emissions permit from the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources.

Progress will shut down three coal-burning plants built between 1951 and 1962 that together have a capacity of about 400 megawatts.

Progress plans to submit further plans to build natural gas power plants and shut down coal-burning plants, which are a major source of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Progress is looking at potentially shutting down one-third of its coal-burning plants in the state in favor of burning natural gas. Natural gas emits half the carbon dioxide produced by coal, and it emits virtually no mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can cause birth defects.