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Anson County Site Frequently Asked Questions
Why is NCEMC building this plant?
North Carolina’s demand for energy continues to grow. Like all utilities, electric cooperatives have an obligation to ensure a reliable and affordable source of electricity for both residential and business consumers.
NCEMC is constructing a peak-load generation facility of 340 megawatts (MW) on the Anson site.
Why did NCEMC choose the Anson site?
The Anson site offered the necessary access to electric transmission lines and natural gas resources, as well as sufficient land. The facility itself will occupy about 20 acres, but the full site is approximately 170 acres, which provides adequate space for aesthetic and environmental buffers.
What type of facility is NCEMC building?
The plant will consist of six Pratt & Whitney FT-8 Swift-Pac™ generation units operating in simple-cycle mode. The plant will use natural gas with ultra-low sulfur distillate fuel oil as the backup fuel. Pratt & Whitney will provide the engineering, procurement and construct while NCEMC will own and operate the plant.
In addition to the turbines, the plant will have fuel storage tanks, water treatment equipment, water storage facilities, a plant control building, and a substation connecting the plant to the electrical transmission network.
In the simple cycle process, natural gas is converted into electricity by producing expanding hot gas from combustion to drive turbine rotors that are connected to an electrical generator.
What does peak load mean?
Peak load means the facility will generate power during times of peak demand, such as the hottest summer days or coldest winter nights. This plant is expected to operate about 700 to 1,200 hours annually or about 10 percent of the time during a year.
How much is this facility expected to cost?
The plant is expected to cost approximately $150 million.
Have economic development incentives been offered to attract this plant?
Yes. We negotiated with Anson County for a ten percent property tax rebate for the first six years.
Who will be using the electricity from this plant?
The end users will be North Carolina consumers and businesses.
What are the environmental impacts of the facility?
Natural gas facilities are considered to be one of the cleanest ways to produce electricity.
The facility is designed to meet all applicable environmental regulations. The turbines powering this plant will be equipped with emission controls. The turbines will use water injection to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) formation. High temperature oxidation catalysts will be used to control carbon monoxide (CO) emissions.
The plant will use approximately 25 million gallons of water a year. Most of the water will be dispersed as water vapor through the facility’s stacks.
A number of factors, including topography, vegetation and ambient sounds, can affect noise levels, but with noise abatement controls and ample buffers, sound from the facility should not be intrusive to the surrounding communities.
What are the benefits of this proposed plant?
The facility will have both short and long term positive economic impacts. In the short term, the construction phase will provide the local economy income from up to 200 jobs. In the long-term, a small staff will manage the facility. The facility represents an investment of nearly $150 million, with an accompanying boost to the local tax base. The facility will produce revenue for the benefit of county citizens throughout the plant’s 25 to 30 year lifespan.
The facility will also ensure that the residential and business consumers of NC’s electric cooperatives continue to receive an affordable and reliable supply of electricity.
When will this plan begin commercial operation?
The plant is expected to become fully operational sometime during the second quarter of 2007.
Where does NCEMC get its power today?
NCEMC obtains power from a number of sources. One key source is the Catawba Nuclear plant in York, S.C. NCEMC owns 28 percent of the Catawba plant. Additionally, NCEMC is a major purchaser of wholesale power, which it buys from several investor-owned utilities including Progress Energy, American Electric Power and SCANA.
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