Duke Energy Carolinas said it will build a 620MW gas-fired power plant costing USD 275 million, or roughly USD 444/kW. The company’s contract with Shaw Group Inc. calls for a combined-cycle, natural gas-fired power plant at Duke’s Buck Steam Station between Charlotte and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, according to papers filed with the SEC. The plant must be approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which is expected to act in the next four or five weeks. Duke says it plans to start the plant in simple cycle mode by the summer of 2010 and combined-cycle mode a year later. The utility said it also plans to add a similar gas-fired plant at its Dan River Steam Station, an 800MW coal-fired power plant already under construction and a 1117MW nuclear power plant proposed for operation in 2018 at a South Carolina site.
