Approval for Progress’ 620-MW gas plant tied to shutting down older coal-fired plants

摘要

The North Carolina Utilities Commission last week granted nProgress Energy Carolinas a certificate of public convenience nand necessity to build a 620-MW, natural gas-fired combined-ncycle unit at the utility’s Sutton plant in Wilmington.nProgress last year announced plans to build the $600 mil-nlion unit as part of a broader effort by the utility to shut down nits older, “un-scrubbed” coal units at Sutton and other sites in nNorth Carolina over the next several years. The new certificate nrequires Progress to retire the three Sutton coal units when the nnew combined-cycle unit comes online in 2014. The three coal nunits total about 600 MW.