Duke’s $584M NC Gas Peaker Denied Over Data Center Cost Worries

Here's one you don't see every day. The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) has said "no" to a Duke Energy gas-fired power plant. On Sept. 18, the commission voted 3-1 to deny Duke Energy Progress a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN, the state's permission slip to build) for a 255-megawatt (MW) gas-fired "peaker" turbine at the Smith Energy Complex in Richmond County. Price tag: $584 million. The twist? The three commissioners who voted no are all Republican appointees, and the lone vote in favor came from a Democrat. Nobody on the commission said gas is the problem. The problem, they said, is data centers: how much of this plant's power data centers will use, and who would pay for it.

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