GAINSWave® Treatment In Belmont, NC

Established in 1946, CaroMont Regional Medical Center is a 476-bed medical center located in Gastonia, NC. Nationally recognized for exceptional care and patient safety, this acute care hospital offers a Level III Trauma Center, Pediatric Care Center, nationally-accredited Cancer Center, a state-of-the-art birthing center and Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and acts anchor for the CaroMont Regional Medical Center system of Emergency Care Centers and free-standing hospitals.

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BELMONT, N.C. — For the first time since 2020, a coal-fired power plant is closing down in North Carolina.

The Allen Steam Station, which is set to retire at the end of 2024, has been generating power for the Charlotte area since 1957, however, in recent years it has slowed down, serving more during peak power periods rather than as a “baseload” power plant.

It’s the first in a series of coal-power retirements set out in Duke Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan, which lays out the utility’s plan for meeting North Carolina’s mandated emissions goals. Duke Energy must reduce its emissions by 70% of 2005 levels and be operating at net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. As a part of that plan, all of Duke’s remaining coal-fired plants will retire or convert entirely to natural gas by the end of 2035.

Before retirement, however, Duke Energy must build replacement generation to keep the power grid stable.

“At some retiring coal plants, we’re building nuclear, at some we’re building natural gas,” Duke Energy spokesman Bill Norton, said.

Natural gas is playing a large role.

New gas-fired plants will be built to replace the coal-fired plants at the Marshall and Roxboro sites and before the Allen Steam Station in Belmont closes, a new natural gas turbine is coming online in Lincoln County.

“You need something that can fire up quickly to fill that gap. Coal was never really designed to do that. It took, you know, the better part of a half of a day to get to full speed,” Norton said.

Duke’s reliance on natural gas, another fossil fuel that has significant carbon emissions, has its critics. Munashe Magarira, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, spoke out against the plan to build a new natural gas plant at the Marshall site, claiming the new plant would not significantly reduce carbon emissions and could increase pollution from VOCs.

“You do not need natural gas to retire coal. There are other alternatives, particularly solar and other renewables that are paired with storage that can do the same sorts of jobs, both providing sort of around the clock, or closer around the clock energy,” he said.

A significant exception to the natural gas buildout at former coal sites is Duke Energy’s plan for Belews Creek in Stokes County. There, Duke Energy plans to install a new type of nuclear energy generation called small modular reactors. The utility aims to have that power online by the mid-2030s, though opponents are skeptical of the timeline and potential cost, given delays other recent nuclear projects have faced.

As for the Allen Steam Station, because the site itself contains nearly 20 million tons of coal ash, the largest site in the state, most of the power plant’s land will be converted into a series of lined landfills to safely store the waste so it cannot contaminate groundwater. With the remaining land, Duke Energy plans to build 167 MW of battery storage.

“That’s actually the same size as unit 1 the last retiring coal unit at this site,” Norton said. “[Batteries] take up less land, you don’t have large amounts of personnel involved with them.”

The next plant slated for retirement is the Mayo Steam Station in Person County. Operations will end before the end of 2030.

(VIDEO: Town of Carrboro sues Duke Energy for contributing to and lying about climate change)

©2024 Cox Media Group

Michelle Alfini, wsoctv.com

Michelle is a climate reporter for Channel 9.

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Old Man Winter has arrived and will bring frigid temperatures to much of the U.S. today. Snowflakes will also be flying in the Northeast and Southwest.

An elongated cold front will be stalled over the Rockies into the Southeast U.S. today, allowing bitter cold, Arctic air to invade much of the nation. There will also be a reinforcing cold front that drops south across the Great Lakes and Northeast. Lake-effect enhancement is likely within any snowfall directly downwind from the warm lakes.

Expect occasional rounds of snow throughout the day for the Great Lakes, Appalachia and the interior Northeast. Generally little snowfall amounts are expected for most. However, locally higher amounts are likely depending on the wind direction. A few flurries or very light snow showers could make it as far south as the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England.

Meanwhile, a low pressure system will develop on the western fringes of this stalled front over southern California and the Desert Southwest. Snow will be found across the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains in the morning, with any snow being limited to the central/southern Rockies and High Plains during the afternoon and evening. Light snowfall is expected for most places, but the Front Range of Colorado could see moderate to heavy snow at times.

Temperatures will be warmer across southern California, far southern Nevada and southern Arizona. Here, there could be a few rain showers throughout today.

The rest of the U.S. will stay unseasonably chilly but dry. This includes the Northwest, the eastern Plains, Midwest and Southeast.

The north-central U.S. will be the coldest area, with highs generally in single digits and teens for the northern Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley and Upper Great Lakes. Though, closer to the U.S.-Canadian border, temperatures could remain below zero for the entire day. Most of the Rockies and the interior Northeast will also report highs in single digits and teens.

Twenties and 30s will be most common across the nation, including the interior Northwest, Great Basin, southern Rockies and central Plains into the Midwest, Ohio and Tennessee valleys, Mid-Atlantic and southern New England. Expect 40s and few lower 50s for the Pacific Northwest as well as the southern Plains into the Southeast. Even northern Florida will see the mercury only climb into the 40s and 50s, while southern Florida records 60s. Mainly 50s and 60s cover California into the Desert Southwest.